Under New Management
by 049 Faithless Observer
Summary: Teamwork is important, whats the worst that could happen? . . . Oh.
1. Chapter 1

Don't own it, wish I did, but then the story would have ended with Rei and Shinji on that beach.

Prologue: Under New Management

Gendo Ikari, was a man with no life. Quiet honestly that was very close to the truth, he lived, breathed, and ate his work. It was only fitting that he therefore spend most of his time devising scenarios and contingency plans to guarantee his interests and manipulate all possible outcomes. Of course no man, or for that matter, group of men, could ever account for every variable. And there were always a few variables that were never considered at all.

One of those was ones own personal survival. Frankly put, Gendo had never expected his own death. To be precise, he had never expected it from so humble a source. Snipers, car bombs, food poisoning and saturation N2 strikes had all be accounted for. What hadn't been accounted for? . . . A drunk driver.

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was just beginning to set. It was the kind of time that young lovers were always portrayed at in sappy romance movies. The Commander watched this scene, unmoved, from the back seat of the black NERV sedan. It may have seemed somewhat undignified for the Commander of the worlds most powerful paramilitary establishment, but it was well suited to his purposes as it did not draw nearly as much attention as a limo would have.

The driver stopped at a red light double checking both ways as Gendo continued in his deep contemplation. _The JetAlone trials are next week if what my source tells me is true. Dr. Arkagi will clear this up soon enough._ He dismissed the thought but mentally earmarked it for later review. Other then the funding cuts, which could only be expected, everything was on schedule. The scenario was intact.

_Rei's treatment for her burns will be finished tomorrow, we will have to go out to lunch._ Really, in his own way Gendo did love Rei, it was a delusional insane love, twisted beyond recognition, but the warm feelings he had for her still stemmed from love.

The Section Two agent driving the car pulled out into the street when he suddenly heard a motor revving up. His head snapped to the left. He had two seconds to think, at which point he came to a startlingly accurate assessment of the situation summed up in two words. "Oh Shit."

Commander Ikari had a split second to react to his drivers shouted comment before he too came to the same conclusion. His last internal monologue could be shortly phrased as, '_Oh Shit'_

A split second later half a ton of supped up rice rocket crashed into the passenger's side of the Sedan right beside Commander Ikari's door at better then ninety kilometers per hour. The Commander was killed instantly. The sedan spun about, pivoting on its front wheels before the momentum in the back half of the ruined vehicle was transferred to a lamp post.

The Section Two agent grunted in pain as he felt his arm smash hard into the side of the door, most likely dislodging his arm from its socket. After a few moments of disorientation he managed to glance back into the backseat, "Sir, are you alright. Sir. Sir!" The Agent unbuckled himself and used his legs to shift himself around so he could stretch his good arm out to the Commanders limp form.

He checked for a pulse and cursed before opening his cell phone and calling in to HQ. "This is Boss Actual, the principal is wounded, repeat, the principal is wounded, possibly dead, send immediate . . . immediate medical attention to this location." He didn't wait for a response before snapping the phone shut and passing out.

The drivers of the sports car, a Mr. Gin Oshii would later be charged with manslaughter and a twenty five year prison sentence, he had a blood alcohol content on his arrival at the hospital of .12 percent.

None of this was particularly pertinent as NERV found itself lacking a Commander, although, it could be said Commander Ikari had a sick sense of humor. Knowing that in the unlikely case of his death his scenario would do nothing for him he had decided to leave this earth laughing all the way to hell. In that regard, he was highly successful.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"The Commander . . . is dead." Sub Commander Kozou Fuyutsuki reported to the top ranking members of NERV. Namely, Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head of project E. Captain Misato Katsuragi, operation Director. Captain Mao Shyuun, section two's commanding officer. And 1st Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga, operations assistant.

There was a silence amongst the gathered group of NERV's highest ranking officers before Ritsuko Akagi spoke. "In this case, this would place you in charge of the NERV Japan branch, unless of course SEELE decides to replace you."

"How likely is that?" Misato asked.

Ritsuko looked at her and shrugged, "Not very, as long as we keep up our efficiency SEELE will not intervene . . . Though I imagine they'll want a full report to the Commander's cause of death, and, they, will, look, into, it." The Doctor emphasized. "Regardless, I have to assume that you have new orders for us, Commander Fuyutsuki." Ritsuko said with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"As a matter of fact yes, first, do not call me Commander Fuyutsuki. I am still the Japan branch Sub Commander." The old professor explained. "Your second order is to do your utmost to support our new Commander in his time of need, he is inexperienced, ill prepared, and as yet unaware of the responsibility that has been placed on his shoulders."

"Sir? Your not the Commander then?" Lieutenant Hyuga asked confused.

Fuyutsuki shook his head, "Commander Gendo Ikari had both a hard copy and digitized will set to be released as soon as the MAGI were informed of his death. His last will and testament, as well as . . . the other documentation that we uncovered has made several things quite clear." Kozou coughed into his hand, it appeared none of the others had quite caught onto why he had used Gendo's first and last name.

"What documentation may that have been?" Ritsuko asked frowning.

"Yeah, I didn't think the Commander would be leaving anything to anyone." Misato said, "And besides, as a government run organization its not like NERV can be handed off in the Commander's will . . ." Misato said seeming slightly too relaxed with the death of NERV's illustrious Commander.

"Captain Katsuragi, now may be the time to inform your of some very interesting information that has not only come to light, but been confirmed through multiple outside legal sources. Officially NERV is a paramilitary organization under the jurisdiction of the UN, nowhere in our mission statement are we designated as a government branch. Officially NERV is a contractor fulfilling a specific job for the UN at this time. This dates back to NERV's time as the Gehrin weapons research facility and should come as no surprise to you."

Misato blinked dumbly, "So, what does that mean." Misato asked slowly.

"What it means is that NERV is a officially a private organization, just as officially the EVA's are privately owned, and that is where the crux of this matter lies. The Commander, through means known only to him, was able to acquire legal ownership of the Japan branch GeoFront, all equipment residing within said facility, as well as Unit-00 and Unit-01, though this was not widely advertised it has been clearly documented, the case is airtight, Commander Ikari owned NERV."

There was a long silence, "So who did he leave NERV to." Ritsuko asked, paling slowly, "He wouldn't, he can't, its has to be illegal!" She shouted as she rose from her seat.

Kozou closed his eyes, bowing his head, "The Commander could, would, and did, as of 0100 hours this morning Shinji Ikari is legally the Commander of NERV."

The entire room became deathly silent once more. "Sir, your joking, right?" Misato said as she realized her charge now possessed the power to fire her.

"I wish I was, but the case is airtight, there were no conditions other then that Shinji not be the cause of his death, the will was clear on that fact. Furthermore, Rei Ayanami is to be placed under my guardianship until the Age of eighteen years. A few . . . _personnel_ . . . items have also been set aside for Doctor Akagi. Captain Katsuragi will also legally receive the rank of Major for her service thus far, apparently he kept this will up to date."

Several more items were listed off, the Commander's final agenda being put into play. Disturbingly enough, compared to there ex-boss's usually cold and ruthless nature the will almost seemed like a Christmas list, it probably struck Gendo's sense of humor just right that everyone around him benefit from his death.

When the reading was done Kozou glanced between the gathered member, "Captain Shyuun, please have your men retrieve the Third Child, and bring him to his office, also have Rei retrieved from the hospital, the Commander was supposed to sign her out this morning, both will need to be briefed."

The Section Two officer nodded as he stood up, "Understood Sir." He turned on his heels and walked from the office without another word.

Misato, Ritsuko, and Makoto simply stood back up nervously. "So, what now, Sir?" Hyuga asked nervously.

"Now we wait. And get some smelling salt, I have a feeling we'll need it." Kozou explained.

"For Shinji?" Misato asked, sure he was whiney, but he wasn't the kind to faint.

The old man shook his head, "No, for Rei." The First child adored the Commander, this was going to hit her hard. _But I'll be there for them Yui, whatever Shinji wants to do with NERV I'll help him do it. _Fuyutsuki vowed, _I just ask, that you forgive me, for letting my sense of righteousness become so clouded._

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And that is it for the prologue, yeah its short but it sets the premise for a semi funny, semi stupid, semi . . . well something else, story. Next Chapter, Shinji takes his sudden boost up the ladder surprisingly well . . . ish.


	2. Obligations

Don't own anything as usual, well I do own stuff just nothing to do with EVA. Strangely this update didn't come out funny, I'm sorry, I think I'm being strongly influenced by the 5th Volume of Fafner I was watching when I wrote this. -Scans fic- Yeah, I was. Well, poke me with a stick and flame my bad writing as usual.

Chapter One: Obligations.

Shinji Ikari, was a afraid, not because he had to fight Angels, not because his soul instrument was a bio mechanical monstrosity who's eyes had seemingly starred into his soul after his first battle. No those things were to fantastic to be worried about on this primal level, Shinji Ikari was afraid, because he had been summoned to the dark lit office of his father. Misato had rushed from the apartment late the last night, or early in the morning, Shinji wasn't sure which.

"Shinji." The boy snapped his head around catching sight site of Sub Commander Fuyutsuki.

"Uhm, g-good afternoon Sir." He stammered politely.

Kozou chuckled softly, "No need to be so formal Shinji, please, come and sit down." The Sub Commander gestured to a pair of large well padded chairs that had been carried in on short notice and set down before his father's desk. Shinji accepted a seat nervously but also thankfully, they wouldn't put him in a comfortable chair if his father was going to chew him out. Would they?

To his surprise the Sub Commander stood before him, directly in front of the desk just as the door was opened once more and another person entered. Shinji's eyes widened as they locked with the crimson red of Rei Ayanami's own pupils. She walked without a word towards them before stopping precisely twelve meters from the desk.

"Sir, why was a I summoned?" Rei asked getting directly down to business without a single wasted word.

"Please, sit first Rei, there is much to be said, and not very much time for it to be said in." Kozou urged the girl into her seat and then paused, letting out a deep sigh as he gathered his thoughts.

"Yesterday evening at approximately 1730 hours an accident occurred." Both children blinked simultaneously. "Involving Commander Ikari." He clarified.

Rei began to fidget with the bow of her uniform nervously as an impulse to ask what had happened to the her Commander, and her own deeply ingrained quiet nature battled for dominance in the matter. This battle had not yet been resolved when Fuyutsuki continued.

"Commander Ikari, was in an accident involving a drunk driver on his way back to the GeoFront after a meeting with a foreign affiliate, he, did not survive."

Shinji and Kozou both looked to Rei in surprise as she sucked in a breath. Her tiny frame shuddered as the implications struck home.

Shinji looked at her concerned, "Ayanami?", he reached at to place and hand on her shoulder, and jerked back as she slapped it away, violently.

Shinji put the hand back in his lap palm up as he studied it dejectedly between quick glances at Rei.

_I was afraid of this. _Fuyutsuki thought to himself, for Rei's entire life Gendo had been her light, the only thing giving her the will to live, and unless a new attachment could be made very soon it was quite possible they would lose her. Kozou had seen people who had lost the will to live, it was a terrible thing, to watch them waste away.

"What of my purpose, Sir?" Rei asked suddenly.

"Purpose?" Shinji asked.

"It will be up to the new Commander to decide that."

"Sir?"

Rei followed the Sub Commander's gaze to Shinji, who was currently busy starring up at the system sephirotica inscribed on the ceiling of the office. He felt the stares and glanced back down, "Mmm, wha?"

"Shinji, you were your fathers sole inheritor for all but a few of his earthly assets."

"So, I guess I'll have some books and stuff to sort through." Shinji said frowning, his father always had seemed to be the type to read a lot, Shinji could vaguely remember that much from his early childhood, he had always connected his father to books, big tombs of them actually.

"Not quite . . ." Fuyutsuki said awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked, feeling his inbuilt danger sense starting to tingle, or more precisely, his scrotum crawling back up inside his body, the telltale sign that something bad was about to happen to or in the presence of his person.

"Shinji, your father, was an extremely rich man . . . He was wealthy in liquid assets surely, but his holdings were even greater." Fuyutsuki said thoughtfully. "He held legal ownership of the GeoFront, and both of the Japan branch EVA's, as such, he legally owned the NERV Japan branch, and as the sole inheritor of this legacy, command, devolves, on you."

There was total silence as Shinji simply zoned out.

"Shinji?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Y-yes, Sir, did you say something?" He asked.

"Shinji, your father left you as his successor as Commander of NERV. This facility, the personnel here, the EVA's, they are at your disposal."

The response that Fuyutsuki got, was, typical.

Shinji shot up from his seat. "You mean, I command NERV!"

"Yes, though you will be subordinate now to the new supreme Commander as the least experience branch officer, you are not, however, obligated to fulfill any of his requests." Fuyutsuki explained quickly, he was going to have a hard time getting all of this through and it was best to start quickly.

"No, I can't, why would he, I mean, no, I can't do this, you can't expect my to do this! There must be someone better qualified!"

"If you attempt to hand over authority there are forces that will rest the power from anyone you may choose, we will all suffer if you do not accept command."Fuyutsuki urged.

"But, I can't no, this isn't fair, I shouldn't have to . . ." Shinji panted looking at the Sub Commander, this was a hundred times worse then just having to pilot, somebody was asking him to take the lives of every human being on his shoulders. "I . . . can't, I'm sorry, I can't, I just . . ."

This time Fuyutsuki didn't give him a chance to continue. He stood before Shinji and forced both hands firmly down on the young boys shoulders. "Ikari, YOU HAVE COMMAND, YOU CANNOT RELINQUISH IT OR THE PEOPLE HERE WILL SUFFER!" Fuyutsuki roared.

Shinji starred at his new Subordinate in shock as he straitened back up and went into quiet listening mode. "I apologize for that, Sir, but you were becoming hysterical." Fuyutsuki said, coughing into his hand lightly. "Shinji, you must understand some very important facts. Firstly, I believe it is important for you to understand the true severity of the situation. Do you know the reason for second impact?"

_True severity? You mean its worse? _Shinji thought in disbelief, but did not utter these words for fear of being shouted at again. "Uh, giant asteroid, hitting the south pole." He answered instead. "That's what they teach in school."

Fuyutsuki nodded his head, "So it is, it is also a lie, that has been spread as the greatest government coverup in history."

"Sir?"

"You must understand Shinji, there are some very selfish, very power hungry people in this world. At the turn of the millennium in Antarctica mankind found God, and rejoiced. But when man tried to capture God and bend him to his will, God retaliated. God, was the First Angel, Adam, and his retaliation was Second Impact."

"What happened exactly to cause the Angel to retaliate?" Shinji asked curiously, he also wanted to ask why the Angel was even there to begin with.

"It retaliated due to a penetration of its body and soul by an artifact known as the Lance of Longinus." Shinji's head snapped around as Rei spoke this time.

"Lance of . . . Longinus?"

"It is an artifact that was recovered at another dig site, the efforts of the expedition were centered around attempting to reverse engineer the S2 theory used by Angel's to generate a 100 percent matter to energy conversion. The Lance was intended to be used to penetrate the Angel's AT field in order to retrieve a sampling of the core. The Angel reacted violently to this intrusion." Rei explained.

"How do you know all of this Ayanami?"

Rei's head turned slowly to face him, "Because, Commander Gendo Ikari, and Doctor Yui Ikari were both on the advisory board that suggested the use of the Lance." There was also the fact that said lance was currently sticking out of the body of her 'mother' deep within Terminal Dogma.

Shinji paled. "Mother . . . Father . . . They, caused all of this?" He whispered, shaking his head, no, it wasn't possible. Surely they wouldn't, surely, not even father would . . .

"So what your saying, is that the Angel's were dormant and harmless until my mother and father decided to poke one with a stick and see what would happen?" Shinji said in a dry voice. "But how did they know to use this Lance thing?"

"It was prophesied in an ancient manuscript known as the Dead Sea Scrolls." Fuyutsuki explained. Now Shinji really was lost, mankind starting Second Impact, prophecies, ancient manuscripts, weapons that could penetrate and AT field. It was too much to believe on such short notice.

"You see, Shinji, the Dead Sea scrolls are a prophecy."

"Like Nostradamus's predictions?"

"Yes, but they are much older, and theorized to be self fulfilling, they are open to interpretation, but, a very great deal of inertia has already been built towards their grimmest conclusion."

"You mean, a Third Impact?" Shinji asked, starting to catch on.

"Yes, that would be the best way to interpret it."

"So, it . . . can't be stopped." Shinji said, sounding depressed as he lowered his head into his hands, if it was a prophecy then what could he do?

"That depends Shinji, do you want to stop it?" Fuyutsuki asked.

Shinji's head snapped up, "Of course!"

"Then that is what NERV will do, but there are those who would stop us. We will need to be wary."

"I just don't get it, why would anyone _want _to start third impact?" Shinji said frustrated, he now felt like a small, none too bright child, trying to wrap his brain around a very complex mathematical equation.

"Because, they believe that they can control the mother and father." Rei said mysteriously before standing. "Sub Commander, I have . . . other duties . . . to attend to." She headed for the door her gate a little shaky. Shinji watched concerned until Rei opened the door. "Co . . . Commander . . . Ikari, your sole intention is to use NERV to stop third impact correct?"

"Y-yeah, I guess." Shinji said, well maybe he'd have NERV make him a nice cappuccino, but that was for later.

"Then . . . I will assist you." Rei said, her voice had something in it this time, something that Shinji had never heard before. It sounded . . . lost.

With that Rei was gone, leaving Fuyutsuki and Shinji to themselves.

"Uhm, Sir?" Shinji asked.

"You have no need to call me that Shinji, you may call me by my name, my rank, or just call me Professor." Fuyutsuki assured the boy as he took up Rei's vacated seat.

"Thank you, then, I have one question I would like to ask before you finish telling me all of this."

"Oh? and what is that?"

"How much . . . do you know about well . . . Ayanami."

"Rei?" Fuyutsuki asked and then sighed, "If you must know, I know a great deal about her, but I would like to ask that you don't delve any further for now."

"Uhm, may I ask why?" Shinji said sitting up in his seat, he had been curious about the quiet girl since the first moment he had seen her. And now he was in a position to find out more about her.

"Rei . . . Is . . . different . . . from other girls, her past is very disturbing and I would worry revealing it to you now might affect how you view her. I'm certain it affected your father." The older man sighed, it had affected him to a degree too, he wouldn't deny that he held a certain affection for the girl crafted in the form of Yui Ikari, but he at least had the decency to recognize her as a separate and unique being. He wasn't at all sure Gendo had been capable of that.

"I understand, I guess . . . Will you tell me . . . when you think I'm ready?"

"Of course Shinji."

Shinji closed his eyes, "Commander of NERV . . . wow . . . But, what if I mess up, a lot of people will be depending on me."

"They already have been depending on you, every time you have fought the Angel's thus far, the people here had depended upon you." Fuyutsuki explained. "Your stronger then you think Shinji."

"But if I make a bad decision . . ."

"That is what you have me for, you have me, Misato, Ritsuko, and the rest of the bridge staff, we're all here to advise you Shinji. You need not bare the weight alone."

_I'm not alone in this . . . right . . . I can do this . . . I mustn't run away . . . I must do this . . . I can do this . . . I will do this._ "Alright then . . . Sub Commander . . . uhm . . . continue with your, erm briefing . . . please." He said awkwardly, if he was going to do this he might as well get used to the way he was going to have to address people on the job.

"Very well, lets start from the beginning then, with a man named Kiel Lorenze, the founder of an organization known as SEELE, and his plans for instrumentality . . ."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei stood before the entrance to the cage for several long minutes. She was dressed in her white plugsuit with the A10 connectors prepared. Most would find this strange considering Unit-00 was not scheduled for a synchronization test. Unknown to Shinji, he had started Rei's systematic and extremely task driven mind on a very dangerous path. It was not without a great deal of care that Gendo had moved through his relationship with Rei, with so much control of her thought processes any significant deviance could greatly affect the scenario. _My purpose was to initiate instrumentality, I was to die in the process . . . I want to die . . . Now my purpose is to stop instrumentality, I choose still to die in the process. _"Do not worry Ikari . . . I will help you." She whispered to herself before proceeding into the cage to fulfill her purpose.

The technicians working on replacing Unit-00's brutalized armor saw Rei the moment she approached. "Miss Ayanami, what are you doing here?" One of them asked as he dropped down from the EVA's shoulder and onto the catwalk, blocking her path.

"Please get out of my way."

"I'm sorry Ma'am, Unit-00 is currently undergoing a maintenance cycle, we're not ready for a synch test." The man ran his hand through his hair as he gazed up at the empty testing station. "I don't remember a test being scheduled."

"Is Unit-00 able to synchronize?" Rei asked.

"Well . . . yeah, the plug system is functioning, though everything accept the ejection batteries have been removed, the power train is offline."

"I see . . . that won't be a problem." Rei moved towards the EVA but the technician continued to block her path, the rest of the crew was watching now.

"Ma'am I cannot allow you near the EVA at this time." He said politely.

Rei bowed her head slightly, "I see . . . please forgive me then."

"For wha . . ." The man didn't finish as a hexagon of light slammed him back against the catwalk railing, knocking him unconscious instantly. Sirens began to sound distantly as the MAGI detected the blue light phenomena.

The other techs backed away from Rei nervously, save one, a Section Two Operative assigned to the shift. "Angel . . ." He hissed, yanking a 9mm from a side holster and firing the entire 16 round magazine into Rei's center of mass in a little under five seconds. Her AT field flickered as each one hit. The bullets dropped harmlessly to the ground as Rei spoke again.

"Please, sound the alarm to evacuate the GeoFront." Rei said softly. "I do not wish to end your lives, only my own."

The Section Two Agent and other technicians gave Rei a wide birth as she walked up to Unit-00 and proceeded to work her way to the partially inserted entry plug.

"What do you intend to do." The Agent shouted, causing Rei to pause for a moment.

"I am . . . going home." She disappeared into the entry plug. And then to the horror of the entire technical crew Unit-00 began to shift, coming fully to life.

"How is this even possible, the power supply was disconnected, she shouldn't even be able to power up the displays." One tech shouted as he shouldered the man who had stood in Rei's way.

"Shit, doesn't matter, get off the catwalk!"

Rei gave the small technical contingent ample time to clear away from Unit-00 before she began to move, she felt slightly ill putting so much strain on her S2 core to power the EVA, but it would be necessary, there were only a few umbilical lines between the Cage and Terminal Dogma and with Unit-00's battery system disabled she would need enough power to complete her task when she arrived.

Despite her nausea, Rei had never felt more at piece with herself then as she walked towards her death, finally, finally, it could all end.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The sirens blared as Shinji came sprinting into Central Dogma. "What's going on?" He shouted.

"Sir!" Hyuga shouted, eliciting odd looks from both Maya and Aoba who had not been present at the private announcement of NERV's new commanding officer, they mentally shrugged and decided to follow Makoto's lead. "We detected a blue pattern originating from the cage, reports indicate a person tentatively identified as Pilot Ayanami mobilizing Unit-00, reports suggest she intends to destroy the GeoFront, all non essential personnel are now evacuating."

_Ayanami is going to attack the GeoFront! Why? _Shinji pushed the thought aside he _had _to keep a level head, he was the Commander now, that was what he was supposed to do, right? Deep within Shinji's mind, long unused gears began to turn. "Why can't you just shut her EVA down?" Shinji asked, he knew that the bridge crew could override and deactivate any or all of an EVA's systems, he'd at least picked up a few things from the instruction manual he was supposed to study whenever he was at NERV. It made a lot of sense actually, if a pilot snapped in the plug the command staff could bring them down without hurting them or damaging the EVA.

"We're trying to but Casper has launched a hack attack on Melchior and Balthasar, it does not appear to be interfering with normal operations, but its overriding any attempt to tamper with Unit-00 or the emergency doors." Maya explained.

Something else that had been said worked its way through Shinji's confused mind. "Wait, you said a blue pattern, you mean an AT field was detected? Where is it?" Shinji asked, the last thing he needed was this happening on his first day as commander . . .

"The field is centered on Unit-00, a Section Two Agent reported that pilot Ayanami is apparently the source." Aoba said.

"Are you saying . . . Ayanami . . . is the Angel?" Shinji asked as he paled. The small militant section of Shinji's brain overflowed with hate as instincts that had been hammered into him by his last three battles with the Angels tried to assert control, and were brutally crushed by his conscious will. _No she can't be._

"Its very strange," Maya said ignoring that Shinji was the only one to report to, after all he was a pilot, he would need to know all of this just as much as Misato, or Fuyutsuki.

"What's strange?" Shinji asked.

"The MAGI have not designated the Angel with a number, they have only identified its presence. We are currently running a level three diagnostic of the MAGI system but no errors have been detected." Maya clarified, she wished Ritsuko was there, she wasn't nearly as good with the Magi as her Sempai.

"Commander, what is your decision." Fuyutsuki asked from the bridge entrance as he finally caught up, the sprint from the Commander's office had winded him, but he had taken the time to catch his breath before speaking.

_Commander? _Aoba and Maya thought simultaneously.

"My . . . decision . . . no this is too soon." Shinji said shaking his head, "I'm sorry . . . I just can't do this yet." He said shaking his head violently.

"I would suggest . . . taking Unit-01 and heading down to stop her." Fuyutsuki said gently.

"But . . . Rei is . . . I can't, Rei's not an Angel, she can't be . . . I . . . don't want to hurt her!"

"And why should you have to do that?" Fuyutsuki asked, entering his Socrates introspection mode.

"Sir?" Shinji asked, startled into reverting to his normal mode of address.

"You're right Shinji, Rei is not an Angel." Fuyutsuki said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation. "You know she is a person, and because of that you can talk to her. Please Shinji, Rei is honest at heart, give her a chance to change her mind."

Shinji nodded, "Right, I'll do that. Uhm, Fuyustuki you have command here. Hyuga, get Unit-01 prepared for launch, I'm heading out." Shinji shouted down to the second tier of the bridge as he rushed back towards the exit.

_God speed Ikari. _Fuyutsuki thought before turning back to matter at hand. "Activate the bakelite suppression system, slow Unit-00 down by any means necessary!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei paused before the upper level elevator to terminal Dogma. Her progress had been slowed somewhat due to the constraints of her core, fortunately the back doors the Commander had told her about, had worked perfectly. Casper was on her side and was relentlessly waging a guerilla war in cyberspace, preventing the other two MAGI from stopping her.

_I'm coming home mother, soon I can return to your embrace . . . soon I can return to the water and light. _Rei thought, a soft smile crossed her face. She would fulfill her orders by closing off one avenue for third impact, without Lilith or the Lance of Longinus almost eighty seven percent of the scenarios for initiating third Impact would become unviable. With that done Rei would no long have a reason to exist. _I wish you would tell me that I am doing the right thing Sir. _Rei thought, she was certain Commander Ikari, Commander Gendo Ikari, would approve of her following the orders of her Commander, of fulfilling her duty.

_And then . . . I can return to nothingness._ Rei stepped Unit-00 onto the elevator and began her descent. The lift system of the elevator was designed with a mechanical based resistance system that would lower it when sufficient weight was placed on top, such as an EVA. Though this was at a much slower rate then the electrical based primary system, it could not be deactivated from Central Dogma and would get her to her target in good time.

Time was one thing she had plenty of, even at this slow pace. It would take Melchior and Balthasar quite some time to crack the fire walls protecting Unit-00 from a remote override.

The lift shuddered to a stop and Unit-00 stepped off, trudging slowly forward with the bare minimum of power needed to stand. Heavens gate barred her way, but that was irrelevant, she activated the progressive knife that she had taken from one of the arming stations and began to cut through, it would take some time, but again, she had plenty.

The metal resisted at first, and then slowly gave as she continued to cut, the soft melting edges of high tensile steel glowed a dull red, outlining the path the superheated blade was taking. In less then a minute and a half she had finished, and with a single solid push she sent the entire door, a whole twelve inches thick and fit to take an N2 mine at half a kilometer, toppling inward, revealing Terminal Dogma to her.

Unit-00 staggered forward and proceeded directly to Lilith. Rei stopped thirty meters from the pale bulk of the crucified Angel, its body was a bloated disfigured caricature of the female body, hundreds of human sized legs hung like welts around the stumps of its own amputated lower appendages.

Rei stood there for what felt like a life time before summoning her S2 cores full ability to generate sufficient energy. Rei's AT field reached out and negated Lilith's own. _Ten minutes . . . That should be enough time_. Rei decided as she reset the rate of reaction.

She opened a small panel above and behind her seat flipping a trio of switches before snapping open a final control on the induction rod her right hand rested on. She held down the switch for five seconds. Pressing it again would deactivate the reaction. She did not intend to press it again.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Shinji . . . Commander Ikari." Maya said over the com line, voice urgent. Apparently Fuyutsuki had explained things as Shinji proceeded towards terminal dogma. "Unit-00 has breached Heaven's Gate and activated its D-drive."

Shinji's eyes widened, "Rei's going to self destruct her EVA." Shinji whispered to himself. "How much time do I have?" He asked to Maya.

"She's reset the self destruct from the standard sixty seconds to ten minutes. We think whatever the Pilot is using to power Unit-00 can't generate enough energy to initiate the reaction any faster then that."

Shinji nodded, "Please Miss Ibuki, evacuate everyone. I don't want you people to die if I can't stop her."

Another face flashed onto the monitor, Misato looked furious. "No way Shinji, we're in this with you to the bitter end . . . hey where's Aoba?" She asked speaking to someone out of the camera's view.

"Well . . . Okay, almost all of us are with you to the bitter end." Misato said smiling weakly, "Can you stop Rei in ten minutes?"

"I think so, I'm not far from Terminal Dogma now." Shinji said, now feeling very fortunate that Fuyutsuki had explained the existence of the place before hand, it really saved on time, at least he knew what to expect.

"And thanks for shutting down the GeoFront's self destruct Hyuga."

Hyuga's face flashed up in a third window, "Don't mention it Sir, Unit-00 will do it for us if you don't stop it so one way or another the job will get done." The frail looking Lieutenant chuckled nervously.

Misato closed her line and turned to the Sub Commander making certain that Shinji wouldn't here anything on Maya or Hyuga's open lines. "Sir, why are you letting him do this? Unit-00 is obviously being controlled by an Angel, if Rei is piloting it then she isn't Rei anymore. You even authorized the deactivation of the self destruct. That _thing_ is trying to start Third Impact!"

"Major . . . How much do you know about Rei?"

Misato looked confused, "What does that have to do with all of this?"

Kozou sighed, "It won't hurt to tell you now, Rei is a hybrid we created using human and angel Genetic material . . . so all of her actions thus far are well within her own estimated abilities."

Misato's face paled before suddenly turning red with rage. Both Hyuga and Maya looked up as Misato shouted. "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME NERV MADE AN ANGEL!"

The Sub Commander frowned, "The appropriate term would be Nephilim, and yes . . . but because of her nature . . . Rei . . . unlike any other Angel . . . can be reasoned with, she has her own thoughts and feelings, which are distinctly human if admittedly flawed . . . And . . ." Fuyutsuki continued darkly. "If Shinji is forced to kill her now, who do you think he will place all of the blame for her death upon?"

Misato understood, "He would blame himself, Sir."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "What is worse, he would be absolutely right to do so, because any actions taken by this branch are now direct extensions of Shinji's will. He, _must _bring her back alive, for his own sake."

Misato turned back to observe the main monitor, "So you think Shinji can talk her out of this?" She asked softly.

"If anyone can it is Shinji."

"They're not exactly that close."

"Oh." Kozou said smiling faintly, "I think Shinji is the closest thing to a friend Rei has."

"Yeah? And why would you say that?"

"Because . . . she smiled for him."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei turned as she heard a crashing sound coming from the direction of Heaven's Gate. A moment later Unit-01 emerged from the darkness it stepped forward until it was standing only fifty meters from Unit-00's blistered orange body. Rei regarded the machine for a moment, she had eight minutes until the self destruct was completed, it would take that much time to gather enough energy within the EVA's core. Unit-01 would protect Shinji, even a self destruct capable of destroying the GeoFront would be unable to stop it from protecting it's child.

"Ayanami." She paused for a moment as she noted another blocked attempt to transmit a message to her EVA. Then after another moment Unit-01's external speakers activated. "Ayanami?"

Rei paused, she had to answer. "Yes Sir?"

8:00

"I just wanted to ask you . . ." Shinji thought furiously, "why are you doing this?"

"Because you wish for NERV to avert Third Impact, I am helping you by destroying two of the possible catalysts."

7:40

"But_ why_?"

"Because it is my purpose?"

"What? Ayanami, what do you mean its your purpose . . ."

"My purpose was to be your Father's instrument, I was never intended to survive."

7:20

"What do you mean? Ayanami please stop this, you don't need to kill yourself, we can get rid of the Angel another way, self destructing your EVA isn't the answer."

Rei closed her eyes, and a very slight smile crept across her face, "No . . . Ikari . . . This is the way it must be."

"Buy why?"

7:00

"Ikari . . . I am what humans call a Nephilim."

"A Nephilim?" Shinji asked, he wasn't particularly familiar with the term, he thought it stemmed from Jewish or Christian mythology but that was from playing to many of Kensuke's RPGs.

"Yes . . . I was created to initiate Third Impact and bend it to your Father's will."

"Then . . . you really are an Angel . . . you always have been." Shinji asked feeling deeply ill. He forced the thoughts aside, so what she was a half Angel, that didn't change a thing. _The Sub Commander knew Rei's secret, he knew, but he still thinks she can be reasoned with._ Shinji already had taught himself an important lesson, without even knowing it, he had learned to put faith in his subordinates.

"A half Angel," Rei corrected, voice unwavering. "This was done to assure that I could not initiate and Impact on my own, another component is needed."

6:20

Shinji shook his head, "But that doesn't explain a thing, if your half angel, then your half human too! Please Rei . . . Deactivate the self destruct and get out of Unit-00 it doesn't need to end this way."

6:05

"No, you are wrong. It must end this way, man and Angel cannot coexist, and my nature would be to listen to Adam's call, as long as my core functions I will be drawn to initiating Third Impact."

"Damn it Ayanami, I order you to deactivate Unit-00 and eject your entry plug."

"I must refuse that order sir."

"What! Damn it, I'm your Commander aren't I?"

5:40

"I believe you have not been fully informed, therefore I must act on my own to fulfill my purpose."

"Just answer the question Ayanami, why do you want to die."

"Because I do not wish to live." Rei said simply.

"But _why_?" Shinji asked. There was a silence that ate up precious seconds.

"Because . . ." The next words nearly didn't sound like Rei. "Have you ever felt . . . you are missing something . . . so important . . . that everyone else has . . . and so you search for it . . . but you do not even know what it is?" Even distorted by Unit-00's speakers Rei's voice sounded sad. "I feel this, every moment, I wish to end it, to return to the nothingness I was made from."

4:40

"And what about me?" Shinji asked, "What will happen to me, and Misato, and the others when Unit-00 self destructs inside the GeoFront."

"It was their own choice to stay, I know the evacuation has been called, and . . . Unit-01 will protect you from the blast." Rei paused as she sensed something. "Ikari, what are you doing?

"I've lowered my AT field Rei, if you become nothing, I will too."

4:00

"Ayanami . . ."_ Wait! _

"Ayanami, Rei, what does your name mean, what does Rei mean?" Shinji asked quickly.

"My name . . ." Rei asked, she felt a slight tightening within her chest. "Rei means . . . zero."

"But it also means spirit, doesn't it."

"Yes . . . at least . . . that is what your Father told me . . ." Rei's eyes began to sting. "What are you doing, why are you doing this Ikari?"

3:20

"Because I don't want you to die." He said gently eyeing the timer as he spoke. "What else is there to know about you Ayanami."

"What do you mean?" She asked, hesitation began to fill her being.

"What do you like, what do you do, how do you feel?"

Rei felt her hands beginning to tremble, "I . . . I like the color blue." She said hesitantly."

"Yes, and?" Shinji asked, he could feel it, she was starting down the right path.

"I like water . . . and I dislike the color red, I do not eat meat, I eat instant noodles for most of my meals, but sometimes I have a salad instead." She whispered, her vision was blurring and she could no longer see the timer counting down. "I enjoy swimming . . . And I find history interesting."

"But what about people, how do you feel towards people?" Shinji asked.

"I . . . I do not know."

Shinji grit his teeth, he didn't want to bring this subject up, but he had no choice, "My father, what about my father?"

"I . . . The former Commander, was most agreeable, I . . . miss him . . ."

"Did you feel better when you were with him?" Shinji asked softly.

"Yes." Rei's voice had become miserable, and yet Shinji could not even see her face.

"And did it hurt when he was talking to others, and not you."

"Y-yes." Even someone as dense as Shinji to the troubles of other's could tell he was pushing Rei towards an emotional collapse. _Forgive me Ayanami . . . but I think you need this._

1:30

"You loved him didn't you, he was like a father to you wasn't he?"

There was a long pause. "Yes." Rei said again.

"I hate you for that Ayanami . . . I hate you for receiving his love instead of me, but I also care for you because I thought we were friends, and if you stop this I promise I'll help you find what everyone else has . . ."

"I cannot . . . I am . . ." She said, her resolve disintegrating.

"AYANAMI DON'T YOU GET IT!" He shouted, tears coming to his own eyes. "YOUR NOT AN ANGEL AYANAMI, ANGELS DON'T HAVE THINGS THEY LIKE OR DISLIKE, THEY DON'T HAVE LOVED ONES, AND THEY DON'T HAVE NAMES. YOU ARE NOT AN ANGEL YOU ARE YOU, YOU ARE REI AYANAMI!"

0:40

Rei's eyes widened, "But this is the only choice Shinji, I must either die or initiate Impact, it is the nature of all the Angel's . . ."

"You said it yourself Ayanami your half angel, and half human, who says you can't be human instead."

"Be . . . human?" Rei whispered.

0:20

"Ayanami, PLEASE, STOP THIS."

Rei's eyes snapped between the Unit-01, the timer and then the flashing message signal. She opened the video feed and her entire body froze as she saw Shinji crying."

Her attention continued to run between all three of them. Unit-01, the timer, Shinji, Unit-01, the timer, Shinji . . . _"Ayanami, Please, Stop this." Be an Angel . . . Be human . . . Angel . . . Human . . . Angel . . . Human. _Rei let out an anguished cry.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Ma'am the AT field has spiked!" Maya shouted as the timer hit 0:15.

"What's happening?" Misato shouted, she didn't have a clue what was happening with Shinji, whatever was going on they weren't talking on the com lines.

"The Angel's AT field is fluctuating!"

"Is it going to blow up!" Misato watched as the timer read 0:03. _You gave it a good try Shinji._ She closed her eyes tight and waited for her consciousness to cease . . . It never came. The Major opened her eyes again and starred at the timer, it had stopped at 0:02 seconds. Well, 0:02.24 seconds, but that was hardly relevant, it had stopped.

"Ma'am, Unit-00 has lost power . . . the Angel has gone silent." Hyuga reported.

Misato looked at the monitor which displayed terminal dogma through a camera at Heaven's Gate. Unit-00 had collapsed on the ground, Unit-01, its extension cord running back over the destroyed blast door, was busily prying the armor away from the entry plug. "Does this mean . . . Rei is gone?"

"Unknown ma'am." Hyuga said, "But an AT field has never gone silent before without the total destruction of the projecting Angel."

"MAGI Casper has been deactivated, triumvirate system switching to standby, Melchior has control, GeoFront operations switching to standby mode." A neutral female voice reported as the MAGI finally succeeded in overriding their rebellious companion.

"Good." Fuyutsuki said to himself before turning to Maya. "Get me a camera feed from Unit-00's plug." The Camera's had their own power supply so they would work even if the plug was removed from the EVA. Everyone waited.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji pulled on the emergency hatch release, grunting in exertion, at least it wasn't like putting his hand on a frying pan like last time, but when he opened it this time, what would he see? Unit-00 had just stopped dead after Rei had crying out.

Finally the hatch gave and he force his head inside. The first thing he heard . . . was a very strange noise . . . short and shot full of misery . . . he gazed into the darkness until he finally saw Rei's form, curled up, half submerged in the LCL near the front of the plug.

"Ayanami?"

The sniffling grew louder, she was crying. He slid into the plug and started working his way towards her. "Ayanami?"

Her reply, somehow managed to retain some of her normal calm, but it could not hide her misery. "Ikari . . . I feel . . . so cold, it hurts . . ." There was a short pause and Shinji could just make out Rei wiping her eyes and looking at the fingers of plug suit. "Water? No, tears . . . I am crying . . . why I am crying?"

Shinji smiled sadly at her, she seemed to notice him for the first time. "Ikari . . . why are you smiling . . . that is something you do when you are happy correct?"

Shinji nodded, "Yeah, it is." He agreed gently.

"But . . . I do not feel like smiling." She replied.

"That's okay Ayanami . . . do you . . . want to cry instead."

There was a long pause, then the sniffling grew in volume and turned to outright sobs. Shinji slid all the way down and wrapped both arms around Rei, pulling her up so that her head rested on his chest, he was still in his street clothes, not having a chance to change into a plugsuit, he wore only the A10 emitters which went unnoticed as he rested his chin atop the LCL soaked stringy clump of azure that made up Rei's hair.

"Shhhhhhh . . . Shhhhhhh . . . Its okay Ayanami, you can cry as long as you need to." He didn't know why he spoke, or why he spoke of what he did, Shinji wasn't even sure how he had spoken to Rei only minutes ago in the way he had. He just did what felt right, and for once, just this once, didn't worry about the consequences.

She kept crying for what seemed like hours before Shinji spoke again. "I'm going to keep my promise Ayanami . . . I'll help you find that piece that's missing."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Major . . . stand down the alert." Fuyutsuki said softly, "And send a retrieval team for Pilot Ayanami and Commander Ikari, tell them to be gentle with both of them." Fuyutsuki said.

"But sir!" Misato protested, Rei had still demonstrated that she was an Angel, how could the sub commander take this so lightly?

"I gave you a direct order Major . . . and regardless, Rei is not a threat."

"What do you mean Sir?" Misato asked.

The Sub Commander's only explanation was to nod towards a monitor. "We just connected with the plug Camera. I don't know about you Major . . . But I for one don't believe Angel's can cry."

Misato sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled. "Yeah, I guess your right . . . wow . . . he really did it."

"With some help." Fuyutsuki agreed. "Oh and Major . . . please find Doctor Akagi, we will need her to check over Rei."

"Yes Sir . . . But I want an explanation for all of this when we're done." Misato said before heading off the bridge and towards Terminal Dogma, she wanted to be there when the rescue team arrived so she could chew Shinji out. Her pace faltered suddenly when she realized that she was about to go chew out her boss. _Maybe I should go find Ritsuko first._ She thought suddenly, yeah the rescue teams could take care of Shinji and Rei, she would go find Ritsuko.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So . . . are you saying you're going to keep her on the active pilots roster?" Misato asked angrily.

"Yes, I don't see any problem with it." Shinji said as he sat behind his desk. Misato slammed her hand down hard on the desk top rattling pencils and pens about.

"You know what she is don't you!"

"Yes, I do." Shinji said.

"And?"

"It doesn't change who she is, you've worked with her for two years and never once have you had a complaint before now."

"That's not the point, I didn't know she was a threat then, would you keep a spy in NERV, just because they've done there job well while they've been here. What makes you think you can trust her."

"Actually Major, the Commander has a very good reason." Ritsuko said as she came rushing towards the Commander's desk holding a clipboard covered in notes. "I was right, the AT field spiking was it folding in on itself as a coherent beam."

Misato blinked, "What are you talking about Ritsuko."

She handed the papers to Shinji who looked them over and then sighed, "Ritsuko . .. You know I can't read this stuff."

"Oh, of course, I apologize." The bottle blond doctor said as she picked the papers back up. "We did a full rundown, if Rei had been a normal Angel she wouldn't have survived it, its . . . quite simply incredible, and this ability for her basic assumed values to shift so radically, well its simply amazing . . ."

"Ritz, slow down your going to hurt yourself." Misato said, it was very rare to see Ritsuko excited about anything, then again, she was normally under too much stress and being constrained by too tight a schedule to get very excited.

"Let me explain." Ritsuko said, turning over a piece of paper. "Ok, in a normal Angel . . ." Ritsuko pulled a marker from her pocket and drew the diamond form of the 5th Angel. "In a normal Angel there is only one Organ, and perhaps two or three different kinds of cells, Nerve Cells, Muscle Cells, and what we call projector Cells, which are the Cells the Angel's use to generate their high energy beams, their whips and such. The only supporting organ is their core . . . which acts like a sort of . . . super mitochondria, generating energy, and all of the necessary proteins, carbohydrates, enzymes, etc. It also generates tremendous amounts of electrical energy." Ritsuko drew a circle as the center of the 5th Angel and little lightning bolts in all directions.

"Now in nephilim . . ."

"Like Rei?" Misato asked.

"Yes like Rei . . ." Ritsuko drew a pretty good approximation of Rei's figure in silhouette.

"I didn't know you were so good at this." Misato commented.

"What? Oh yes, old habit from my child hood, I used to draw Manga characters, never lost the knack for it. Now then, like I was saying, In nephilims the S2 core serves the same basic role, accelerating healing, generating lots of power, AT field projection, but the Nephilim also have their human physiology to fall back on. The ratio of materials used in our bodies and in Angels is approximately the same, and the basic pattern of our DNA is very similar, but that tiny fraction of difference packs a wallop."

"Most of the supporting characteristics that we associate with the Angels, are at least partially integrate into the individual cells of the nephilim, unlike normal angel cells which with the exception of nerve cells, totally lack in both a nucleus and most of the membrane bound organelles we associate with normal cell physiology.'

"So the angels are just bunches of prokaryotic cells?" Shinji asked, he knew enough biology to find that very strange.

"Sort of . . . though there do seem to be some organelles particularly in the emitter cells, most of the angel's body seems to be just a physical manifestation for its core to manipulate."

"This is all very interesting but what does it have to do with Rei?" Misato asked, getting fed up.

"Oh yes, like I was saying Rei as a nephilim has the back up of her human organs if her core fails. That is why she is alive at all right now."

"The AT field spike you told me about?" Shinji said.

"Yes." Ritsuko agreed smiling very slightly. "To think, that an Angel would consciously choose to destroy her own core. It goes against everything we ever assumed about them."

Misato looked back and forth between Shinji and Ritsuko. "You mean, Rei got rid of her Angel half?" She asked confused.

"Not quite." Ritsuko said, "She still retains many of the supporting characteristics of her angel genetics. It would be more accurate to say she crippled her Angel half. That AT field spike we detected was Rei turning her AT field back in upon its source. We took a cell sample from her lower abdomen where her core resided, the organ was completely pulverized, it will probably continue to disintegrate over the next few weeks, but if there are any complications we'll surgically remove the remains."

"That's why I trust her Misato . . . she listened to me and gave up her AT field, nearly limitless energy, immortality, that's what the S2 core is to the Angels and Nephilim." Shinji said quietly. "She gave that all up because she believes that I will help her, and I'm going to do just that . . . But that means I have to trust her too."

Misato stared at Shinji in aw, he was not being harsh . . . but he was being very firm. _He really seems like a Commander right now._ She nodded slowly, "I'm still filing a complaint over this." She said lamely.

"I would expect you to Misato . . . and thank you . . . for understanding." Shinji stood up from behind his desk and scanned his office. "You know, I'm not sure I want to keep this place . . . could we turn it into a lunger or something?"

Ritsuko and Misato blinked stupidly. "Yeah maybe." Misato finally said.

"Good, I'd kinda like a smaller office . . . you know maybe about the size of Ritsuko's." Shinji continued as he walked towards the door. "Oh and maybe we can see about getting some nice pictures for the walls, and some vending machines."

Misato and Ritsuko followed their new boss and employer towards the door to the office that would soon be the most often visited lounge in the GeoFront. What they didn't know, what nobody save Shinji knew, was that he had not made a promise _just_ to Rei . . . He had promised . . . That he would help them all.


	3. A time to die, a time to live

Chapter 2: Time to Die . . . Time to Live

"Poor thing, she's back in there again?" One of the nurses asked.  
"Yes, they say that damn thing she has to pilot went berserk again."  
"Unbelievable, what they do to these children."  
"And that's not all. The mental stress they're under."  
"That doesn't surprise me, I tried to talk to her once, she just starred at me with those eyes, didn't say a word."  
"Maybe things will be better with the new Commander."  
"Perhaps, I wonder who he will be, have they announced it yet."  
"No, but the sub commander is a shoe in, strong and dependable, he's my kind of man!"  
"He's also three times your age."  
The nurses laughed at their colleagues expense before getting back to work.  
_Why am I here_? Rei wondered in the space between sleep and reality.  
_I want to be here. _She decided.  
_But why? Why do I wish to be here? _Memory came back slowly, not flooding, not because the memories didn't return quickly, but because there were so painfully few.  
I have been given a reason to live . . . a reason . . . beyond my duty?  
_Is that . . . why I have destroyed my core . . . so that I may live as a human?  
_Rei's eyes opened slowly as she took in a deep breath, she felt weak, and very tired, and there was a burning sensation where her core had been. The burning had gone down from what it had been however. She struggled to sit up and looked at the clock frowning, she had never required more than four hours of sleep before, now it didn't seem like enough. Perhaps this was the price of what she had done to herself.  
She slid her feet out from under the blanket and carefully placed them on the floor, she felt like she was walking on pins and needles as the blood rushed back. Using the bed, and then the wall for balance she staggered towards the restroom to relieve herself.  
It stung a bit to urinate due to dehydration, Doctor Akagi said she would need to drink lots of water as her S2 core had been more akin to a very dense concentration of minerals rather then organic cells, all of that spare matter slowly entering her blood stream was going to reduce the amount of available water in her body if she wasn't careful.  
_I must stay well now, so Ikari and I can find what I am missing._ She thought firmly, it was the first time, somebody had promised to help her, not to complete a task, but to find happiness to make her whole. It caused a strange sensation to run through her when she thought about it, not bad, just . . . different.  
She staggered back towards the bed, but before she had made it even halfway there she slipped and hit the floor hard, pain lanced through her side and she mentally berated herself for letting the pain affect her so badly. Struggling to stand she felt two strong hands come down on her shoulders and looked up in surprise at the Sub Commander's smiling face.  
Fuyutsuki had been watching Rei's progress from the door way, not commenting. Rei was a determined character, Kozou felt he would be doing her more harm then good trying to help before she needed it. Using the Sub Commander as a crutch Rei was able to shuffle back to the bed and lay back down, her small reserve of energy spent.  
"Do you want some water Rei?" Fuyutsuki asked.  
She nodded slightly without saying a word. Fuyutsuki went into the restroom and got a paper cup, filling it from the tap he helped Rei sit up in bed and waited for her to finish before speaking again. "Gendo's will appointed me as your guardian Rei, you will be living with me for now on."  
Rei observed the Sub Commander from the corner of her eye. "Why?" She asked. "My apartment is sufficient."  
"Because Rei, you need to be someplace more suitable to actually living. If you get sick then what would I do? You are my responsibility now and seeing you hurt would make me feel terrible." The Old Professor reasoned.  
"I have never had a problem with my health before sir, I will be fine." Rei protested in her normal quiet manner.  
"You don't have your S2 core to fall back on anymore Rei you can get ill just like everyone else now."  
The girl was quiet as she considered this, "Very well Sir." She blinked a few times as her eyes became heavy once more. Was being human, or reasonably close to such, really this limited?  
Fuyutsuki watched her lie back down, even as she struggled to keep her eyes open. He placed a hand softly on her head. "Rest now Rei, your body is drained from this ordeal and will need to recover."  
Rei didn't say anything as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Ok, well, good evening everyone." Shinji said hesitantly as he took the seat at the head of the conference room table. Unlike Gendo, Shinji didn't see any reason to try and intimidate his own staff, that was going to take some getting used to, and so found a blandly furnished meeting room far more preferable to his father's now abandoned office.  
"I've called this meeting in order to allow us all to share information and ideas. I'll be relying on each of you." Shinji's eyes locked with each person at the table in a very un-Shinji like way. "So I ask for your trust and best efforts." Sitting down each side of the briefing room table were Maya, Ritsuko, Hyuga, Aoba, Fuyutsuki, and Misato. The people he knew would be most involved in the operations of NERV. "I will now open this meeting, Dr. Akagi, would you please give your report on damages incurred upon the GeoFront during . . . Unit-00's actions yesterday afternoon."  
Ritsuko stood up nodding as she scanned over the notes on her clipboard. "The GeoFront did sustain moderate damage, primarily the destruction of the armored defense door in place to lock down Terminal Dogma, and damage to the cage where Unit-00 was being repaired. Unit-00 has received no further damage . . . in fact . . ." Ritsuko hesitated.  
"Yes?" Shinji asked.  
"It appears that repairs to most of the biological components was greatly accelerated, this, was likely due to the presence of an S2 core."  
"Too bad our EVA's don't have something like that in them all the time." Misato commented.  
Hyuga nodded, "That's the truth."  
Shinji thought it over and accepted the answer. "I guess that makes sense, please . . . continue."  
"We believe we can move Unit-00's repair schedule up and have repairs completed by the end of next month but we will need to undergo a synchronization test to see how Rei's, physical changes, might have affected her ability to synch with EVA. Otherwise most of the damage done was minor, repairs can be completed in two weeks at most. More troubling are the back doors which set Casper against us but we have severed its external connections and are now doing a line by line check of the OS, we won't leave anything that we don't know about. All in all the damages incurred are well within what has been allowed for in our budget."  
"That budget was accounting for Angel attacks." Fuyutsuki said nonchalantly.  
"And this wasn't?" Ritsuko asked.  
"Uh, good thank you for the report Ritsuko." Shinji interrupted. "Sub Commander Fuyutsuki will now brief us on the current status of Section Two." There was an awkward silence at that, what was wrong with Section Two?  
Fuyutsuki soon explained. "To put it simply, we're firing the entire NERV security staff."  
"WHAT!" Everyone save Shinji and Fuyutsuki looked shocked.  
"Well yeah." Shinji said, "Think about it. They managed to lose track of me a fourteen year old, for three entire days. How can we expect these clowns to protect us from security risks." The room became silent as the entire command staff had to admit, that yes, losing track of a single kid in a town they all but owned, was pretty sad.  
"Misato, that is why you will be put in charge of hiring replacement officers." Shinji said.  
"Huh, why me?" Misato asked, dreading the increase in paperwork this would bring. Maybe I should ask for a pay raise. Come to think of it that wasn't such a bad idea, with Shinji as her boss she had a pretty good chance of getting the request passed.  
"Because I looked up your files and when it comes to people outside of Section Two you are the only one with any actual military experience, I defer to you on this matter."  
"Y-yes sir." Misato said awkwardly.   
"We will need to select Agents based on past performance, the MAGI have already compiled a list of three thousand viable candidates, including ex-SWAT and SSDF personnel, we would prefer people with combat experience but anyone with other useful skills should also be considered I want to see the top two hundred on my desk by next week." Fuyutsuki finished.  
"Wow, Commander Ikari is really rocking the boat isn't he." Maya whispered to Aoba.   
"Yeah, just hope we don't lose our jobs."  
Shinji coughed into his hand, "I'm sitting right here, I can hear you . . . You know that right?"  
"Ugh, YES SIR!" The two bridge bunnies stiffened in their seats.  
"I suppose with that out of the way, now would be the best time to inform you all of the situation we currently face. Doctor Akagi, please brief the Major and bridge crew . . ." Shinji's tone darkened. " . . . Don't leave anything out."  
Ritsuko looked at him, and nodded solemnly, withdrawing a small handheld terminal from her pocket and dimming the lights. A projector activated on the back wall, painting an image of Terminal Dogma onto the conference room's screen. "I hope none of you have had anything to eat recently, this already upsets my stomach when I think about it too much . . ." With that said Ritsuko began.

They had all entered the briefing room with a vague idea of what they would see and hear about. But it did not prepare them for what they learned now.  
She told them about Lilith, and they were shocked, having assumed that the crucified being deep within the GeoFront was Adam. She told them about what resided within an EVA's core, and they became violently ill knowing that human being's had not just died, but been imprisoned within these monsters. And then . . . she told them about Rei . . . and they were outraged at the sick mind that would twist a little girl into what the Commander had made of her.  
Yet though it all, they did not blame Ritsuko, they did not blame Fuyutsuki, and they most certainly didn't blame Shinji. They blamed SEELE, and they blamed Gendo. Shinji had starred at the table top for the entire briefing, keeping his jaw clenched tight. He took in a shuddering breath as the lights came back on. "Doctor Akagi."  
"Yes?" Ritsuko asked.  
"Rei's . . . Rei's clones, the EVA graveyard, I want to see them, I want to see it all with my own eyes."  
"Shinji, are you sure . . ." Fuyutsuki began gently.  
"Yes." The voice was shaky but also filled with something, a strength that demanded Shinji do what he had never before thought he had the strength for.  
"Sir . . ."  
Shinji glanced up to see Hyuga and the other two bridge officers standing. "We want to see it too, we want to see it ourselves so we can know the truth." The other two bridge technicians nodded in agreement. There was no distrust in Hyuga's eyes, he trusted Shinji completely after the boy had revealed all of this, there was just the determination to see the truth for one's self. To have absolute evidence for one's self that one is not being lied to once more.  
"You can if you think your up to it. I know it makes me feel sick just thinking about it. But . . . Rei is still the same Rei all of us have always known, so please don't think of her any differently." I just hope I can do that. Shinji was interested in more than just seeing the truth for himself, he wanted to be certain that he wouldn't think differently of Rei after starring her, 'Sisters' in the face. If he couldn't do that, he wasn't worthy of her friendship. "You are all dismissed, go home and get some rest people."  
Misato looked at him worried as the rest of the bridge crew shuffled past. You don't have to take the weight alone Shinji . . . I guess I'll help Rei too, for your sake. "Come on Major."  
"Hmmm, wha?" Misato turned as Hyuga grabbed her wrist and started to drag her from the room. "We have some work to do picking out the new Security Staff, we'll probably be pulling a couple consecutive all nighters getting it done."  
Misato groaned as the Makoto dragged her off towards a mountain of paper work that she would need climbing equipment and an oxygen tank for if she ever wanted to see the topmost sheets.   
Shinji stopped Ritsuko on her way out. "The Jet Alone trials are still scheduled for next week right?" A pilotless robot capable of fighting Angels sounded great on paper but Shinji had a bad feeling after looking over the information Ritsuko had shown him. For the time being she was going to overlook where she had gotten JetAlone's blue prints. Having piloted EVA against the Angels Shinji was sure JetAlone wasn't up to snuff as a weapon to use against them.  
Ritsuko nodded, "Yes, do you want me to carry through with the original plan?"  
Shinji paused and thought for a long moment, it would be nice to finish this up nice and neat, no lives would be lost either, that was always a plug. But . . . "Me and Fuyutsuki have been talking, we might have a better idea." He said after a moment and began to explain. When Ritsuko left the briefing room fifteen minutes later she was convinced Shinji's devious bastard genes were showing up now that they were in an environment to flourish. Who would have thought Shinji would come up with something like this, ah a man after my own heart. She thought humorously as she headed towards the elevators. Unit-01 would need to be prepared and the Sub Commander would have quite a few arrangements to make. Acting as Shinji's representative to the UN was going to be taking up much more of his time then the mere city council meetings he had been relegated to before. Which meant Ritsuko would be getting even more administrative work to do. No rest for the wicked and we're the wickedest of the bunch.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei looked up from the book the Sub Commander had given her to pass the time as a light knocking came from the hospital door, Shinji was smiling nervously as he held something behind his back. "Good afternoon, Sir."   
"Please don't call me that, Ayanami."  
"What would you want me to address you as?"  
"Ikari is fine, or Shinji, i-if you want." He stuttered quickly.  
"Very well, Ikari, why are you here?"  
Shinji shifted uncomfortably, "I, uhm, came to . . . give you these . . . yeah." He held out the small bouquet looking suitably embarrassed for a boy his age.  
Rei put her book in her lap and quietly took the flowers, head coking to the side curiously. "What are they?" She asked.  
"Flowers . . . I just wanted to show . . . I wanted you to get well soon . . ."  
"Flowers will not help one heal faster Ikari." Rei stated simply, and then starred at Shinji as he began to laugh, the laughter cut off when he realized she wasn't joking.  
"Well . . . Yeah, that might be true, but they do show that people care enough to want you to be well soon."  
"I . . . see . . ." Rei said hesitantly, "Your concern for my well being is . . . appreciated Ikari." She averted her eyes. "Thank you."  
They fell into a comfortable silence. "Ayanami?" Shinji asked.  
"Yes?"  
"You won't try to do something like that again will you?" He said worried.  
"Are you afraid I am untrustworthy?" Rei asked, she would not be surprised if he did, in retrospect, her actions seemed . . . stupid.  
"N-no. I trust you Rei, I just worry for you as well."  
"Again, I thank you Ikari." Rei said, blushing slightly, Rei's head bowed down as she starred at her lap. "But I am not worthy of such treatment . . ."  
"Yes you are!" Shinji said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight. His eyes widened as he realized what he was doing and pulled the offending hand back, cramming it down into his pocket.   
Rei hesitated before speaking, as touching as those words were she couldn't betray Shinji anymore then she could have betrayed his father. "You know about . . . the others correct?"  
"Yeah . . . Ritsuko told me . . ." His voice suddenly filled with anger. "So what! you have a giant fish tank full of spare bodies, so what! If you died and they replaced you with one of them . . ." The words caught for a second but he pushed on. "I-if they replaced you, it wouldn't matter if the girl they gave us back had all of your memories, mannerisms, even your DNA, she wouldn't be you . . . And . . . I would miss you." He finished lamely.  
For a brief moment Rei felt very close to finding the piece of herself that she felt was missing. Her lips twitched slightly. "I thank you once more Ikari."  
Both of them were facing severe cases of elevated body temperature by now. "So . . . how long until you get out?" He asked, noting that Rei was not likely to be the one to break their uncomfortable silence. If anything she seemed to clam up even more when she was embarrassed.  
"Three days, I am being kept for observation and bed rest." Rei said before pausing slightly. "I have had . . . time to think about what you told me."  
"What did I tell you exactly?" Shinji asked a little confused.  
"Your father, I have taken a great deal of time to consider it, and I must come to the conclusion that I did love him. And that I still do, he was my provider for the last eight years."  
"Oh." Shinji felt his heart sink, and at the same time his blood heated as he thought about all of the things his father had done to her, how could Rei still honestly believe the man had cared for her?  
"That is why I would like to ask you Ikari . . . Is it wrong for one to be sad when a loved one passes away?"  
Shinji had to think about that for a long time. He could only vaguely remember the one person he had ever really loved, blurry memories of his mother were all he had to remember her by. But . . . he was sure that he would have wanted her back. And he did miss her, memories of his mother were the only time he could remember being loved.  
"No, Ayanami, its not wrong for you to feel sad, you should miss him a little, you should think well of him. I-if you loved him." Shinji said hesitantly.  
"I see, then, may I attend the funeral?" Rei asked.  
Shinji was very quiet for a moment. "O-of course Ayanami." He was privately questioning whether his father even deserved the dignity of cremation. Shinji was tempted to just have the old bastard's corpse tossed into lake Ashino, preferably in small pieces.  
"Is that all you wanted?" Shinji asked.  
Rei paused for a moment before continuing, "Ikari . . . You are my friend now, correct?"  
"Uhm, I guess." Shinji said before catching the deeply considerate look in her eyes. If you know where to look she does show her emotions. Shinji thought slightly entranced before answering more firmly. "Yes Ayanami, we're friends."  
"Then . . . like you said, you would miss me if I died?"  
Shinji's eyes widened, it wasn't something that he would have ever expected someone to ask. If anyone else had asked he probably would have gone off onto a long stuttering tangent. Instead he nodded, "I'd miss you a lot Ayanami?"  
The girl's blush didn't get any redder then the faint pink already warming her cheeks but the words did serve to guarantee it would be there for a few hours yet.  
"I have to go now Ayanami, I'll come by tomorrow . . ." Shinji's eyes widened, "Gah! I just realized I've missed the last two days of school, and we still have all of the announcements to make to the UN, and, and . . ." Shinji turned on his feet and tried to stumble through the door, instead managing to ram his face into the doorframe. Rubbing his jaw he grinned weakly, "I'll . . . see you tomorrow Ayanami."  
The girl didn't answer instead watching as Shinji went shooting down the hall. Ikari will be a good Commander. Rei thought suddenly. Another thought surfaced unbidden. If he died . . . I would miss him. Rei gave a mental frown, that didn't seem quite right, but, it was sincere and the sentiment for now . . . was close enough.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was turning out that being Commander had a lot to do with form and very little to do with function. Oh, he had the big decisions to make but the MAGI helped him a lot on the more mundane ones and Fuyutsuki was a great resource even as he taught Shinji how to make the decisions on his ow. But he also had to spend a lot of time doing frivolous things, like inspections, reviews of important documents and of course the city council meeting was coming up at the end of the week. Shinji had decided to sit in on it instead of Fuyutsuki as it fell on the day Rei would be moving in with the Sub Commander. As they walked down the corridor towards the EVA cage for inspection of Unit-00 a thought occurred to him.  
"I've been meaning to ask, if we have all of this information why don't we just turn it over to the UN." Shinji asked frowning. It seemed simple enough, even if SEELE held ties in every major organization on the planet, if somebody revealed conclusive proof of their plans the masters would soon be hunted by their own servants.  
"Because simply put, SEELE isn't stupid. They've long since had things set up to work against us in such a scenario. If we start revealing their plans it will be NERV that is left holding the smoking gun. We'll be wiped out, and SEELE will be left intact, and believe me, if there is a way to start instrumentality they will find it."  
Shinji sighed, "It figures we can't get it easy. So are we ready for the JetAlone trials?"  
"Yes . . . The UN Pacific fleet has agreed to conduct the live fire exercise, but they're using it to dictate terms to us on your authority." Fuyutsuki explained.  
Shinji nodded, "What do they want?"  
"They are requesting that you appoint one of us, either myself or Doctor Akagi to act as your direct advisor, they also want any actions you decide to take to be judged by a triumvirate of myself, Doctor Akagi, and Major Katsuragi." It was a pretty decent deal on the UN's part, frankly, they didn't want to get into the red tape that would be involved in contesting Shinji's ownership of NERV, considering the documentation involved was pretty solid. Either way, they at least knew somebody responsible would keep things running smoothly.  
"Well that's no a problem, I was intending to do that anyway." Shinji said thoughtfully.

"Very well then Ikari, I have to make the arrangements for Unit-01's deployment. I assume you will pilot." Futuysuki said offhanded.  
"Actually I want Rei to do it."  
"Oh really?" Fuyutsuki asked with mild surprise. "Why do you want Rei to pilot?"  
"Because . . . I want her to know I trust her, and its not like a higher synch ratio will mean much for this."  
Fuyutsuki nodded, "I will have the necessary paper's drawn up. If Rei is fit to pilot by the testing day she will do it."   
"Thank you Fuyutsuki." The Commander and Sub Commander stepped onto an elevator heading up towards the lower levels of NERV.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Seeing as how Shinji now legally owned NERV, and therefore was the employer directly or indirectly of some ninety percent of Tokyo-3's workers, one would expect him to be treated with a bit more respect.  
"Shinji, where have you been for the last two days!" One would have expected wrong. Hikari Horaki, class representative and specialist on getting into other people's business.  
"Uhm, I was just . . . just simulation practice, Misato want's all of the pilots to get in more practice." Shinji stuttered quickly, knowing how shallow his words were, hell he had only been in the EVA cage once in the last two days and that was when he had mobilized against Rei.  
"Uhuh, where's Ayanami then?" Hikari asked suspiciously, then again that was her job. She had to keep up with all that little idiots who thought they could call in sick to get a free day off.  
"Ayanami? She's uhm . . ." Shinji began hesitantly.  
"Ah relax class rep, don't forget Ayanami's missing half the time anyways." Kensuke chimed, quickly pulling Shinji's ass out of the frying pan . . .  
"Yeah, and besides you can have Shinji here take Rei's homework to her." Touji said, slapping Shinji on the back.  
Hikari mentally shrugged and made sure to get the appropriate handouts for that afternoon before heading off. As soon as she was out of ear shot the stooges's eyes narrowed and they began their own interrogation of their latest member.  
"What have you really, been doing?" Kensuke asked suspiciously.  
"N-nothing, honest!" Shinji replied.

Both of his friends looked to one another and nodded in agreement with some unspoken fact. "Your lying." Touji said sternly, "Come on man tell us!"  
"I-its nothing . . . just . . . my father just . . . died." Shinji admitted half of the truth, not really thinking as he said it. Most children would be in a state of great sorrow if they lost a parent. Shinji really couldn't care less that his dad was dead, especially after what he had seen and been told. And today . . . today he had to inspect the dummy plugs . . . and decide what exactly to do with them.  
His friends were quiet for a moment, "Your father's dead?" Kensuke said slowly, "We didn't mean to bother you about it!"  
"Yeah, sorry man." Touji added in, both boys looked ashamed for touching on something so personal.  
"No, don't be." Shinji said, "We weren't ever that close. He kind of abandoned me after my mom . . . passed away."  
Both of his friends looked unconvinced but seemed to accept his answer, partially out of understanding, partially to break free of the awkward situation they had just gotten themselves into.  
"Hey wait, doesn't this mean somebody has to replace him as Commander of NERV?" Kensuke asked excited, then again the boy lived, breathed, and ate EVA it was his dream incarnate and that meant he was constantly harassing Shinji about it.  
_I just don't have the heart to tell him he's at the very bottom of the pilot aptitude list_. Shinji thought somewhat ashamed out how funny he found his friends predicament. Actual pilots were rare to find, he had learned during one of Ritsuko's many briefings, but there were quite a few markers that could be used to test viability if a child was selected. Kensuke was behind nearly eight hundred other potential applicants. Including just about every other kid in there grade due to a combination of poor reflexes, bad eyesight, poor physical fitness, and 'psychological characteristics deemed dangerous in a pilot.' Whatever that meant.  
"Uhm, well, I wouldn't know about that, I-I'm just a pilot." Shinji stuttered, yeah and you know he's gonna find out soon enough . . . Shinji made a mental note to have Ritsuko encrypt all of the data pertaining to his new status. He really didn't want Kensuke on his butt every other day wanting to see the GeoFront. As much as he saw Kensuke as a friend he couldn't bare that level of harassment, if at all possible he wanted to avoid the bespectacled boy finding out. EVER. In fact, if he did find out Shinji was almost ready to just live in the GeoFront for the rest of Kensuke's life.  
"Man, I hope the new Commander decides to do some pilot shuffling, and maybe allow tours of the GeoFront, and . . ." Shinji was soon tuning the Otaku's long external monologue out with the same skill he applied to ignoring the teachers when he lectured about Second Impact. Not like he even know the real story. Shinji thought a bit more darkly. It was ironic, finding out all of NERV's secrets hadn't made him more depressed, it had just served to make him significantly more cynical. Oh well . . . tomorrow Rei would be getting out of the hospital. Shinji began to think about Rei, despite knowing her origins she was as much an enigma as ever_. I'll help her move her stuff once she's well. Perhaps I should have Fuyutsuki move into one of the nearby complexes . ._ . Shinji dismissed that thought as just his male hormones trying to get the one girl he could remotely relate with someplace within convenient walking distance.   
The bell rang and he had no more time to think, cough-scheme-cough. If one had been able to see some of the things that the heavily quarantined insane asylum section of Shinji's brain was coming up with they would definitely agree his father would be proud.  
Someplace down in hell a bastard gets his horns.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Happy thoughts were best left on the surface . . . That was what Shinji discovered as the elevator descended towards terminal dogma. This entire place reeked of the pain that had been inflicted through its very existence. It was the physical embodiment of an insane wish. And for that reason alone he wanted to destroy it, with each passing second Shinji was seeing that his father had been a filthy little soul who should never have been allowed to command his fear, much less respect.  
He looked around at the others descending with him, Misato, Ritsuko, Hyuga, Aoba, and Maya, the Sub Commander, and, against his better judgement, Rei. It was the largest group to enter the lowest level of the GeoFront in years, yet even they, eight strong, couldn't shake off the misery that this place symbolized. The first thing Ritsuko had shown them was the EVA graveyard. "Do you have any idea how many failures we had before Unit-00 could even be made viable?" She asked rhetorically as she waved a hand at the skeletons of potential gods. "Billions, tens of billions of dollars down the drain because we could never perfect the system."  
"But a solution must have been found." Misato said starring out at the remains, at a single EVA in particular, some of the muscle tissue was still left on this one clinging to the bone like parchment, one could see where a third eye lay hanging from its socket in the dead, never living to be honest, behemoth's forehead. "I mean, Unit-00 and the rest, the souls . . . their cores weren't finished right away, so that couldn't be it."  
Ritsuko nodded in agreement. "Your right Misato. Making an EVA capable of simply living isn't that hard. We were able to construct a viable Evangelion by editing out the S2 core from the DNA." She explained, "S2 principal relies on the phase space of the AT field, without it the core breaks down any living tissue within proximity to it. Essentially, you need a soul in order to shield biological components against the negative affects of the S2 reaction. Of course without a soul it's just an inert mass of pseudo living tissue."  
"So your saying these things all died because they didn't have souls?" Maya asked as they continued towards their final destination.  
"That would be accurate." Fuyutsuki said, "Even after we were able to build Unit-00, 01, and 02, we still did not fully understand why removing the S2 core had such a significant affect. It was only after the absorption of Unit-01's test pilot that we began to research further into the AT field." Shinji froze stiff eyes dilating as it all meshed together like a well made watch.  
Rei was the first to notice his hesitation, it seemed that all of the affection she had possessed for Gendo had transferred now to Shinji and then some, she had practically attached herself to the boy like a limpet never leaving his side save for synch tests and during her only recently ended period of enforced bed rest. "Ikari?"  
Shinji's eyes were glassed over and distant. "Mother . . ." He whispered.  
She flinched slightly, coming to a logical conclusion, I am not her, Rei thought quietly. She still did not know how much the Sub Commander had told him. She had nearly decided to say as much when Shinji continued on his own.  
"It was mother wasn't it . . ." The entire group turned to Shinji who was now speaking with a cold voice. "Mother tested the EVA . . . She's the one who's trapped in Unit-01's core . . . isn't she!" He supposed he had known since Fuyutsuki had told him about the true nature of the EVAs, but he hadn't wanted to believe that his mother was there. It would be wrong to delude himself that way, surely it had just been some unlucky technician. Some unfortunate test pilot.  
Kozou said nothing, he simply nodded his head slowly not daring to directly acknowledge the question for fear of setting Shinji off. The entire group was silent as Kozou spoke once more, "It was your fathers intention to initiate third impact, so that he could be with her."  
"I . . . see . . ." Shinji said softly as Rei hovered over him becoming suddenly concerned for Shinji's well being. "Thank you Fuyutsuki . . . it's all making a lot more sense now." Shinji's eyes widened slightly as Hyuga moved to support him. Odd, he didn't remember beginning to sway . . .  
"Are you sure you want to see the rest Shinji?" Misato asked.  
He didn't answer, but his eyes did, they showed exactly how he felt and Misato could not deny him. Not on this.  
The group continued coming next to a room that Shinji knew all too well, even if he had only been there once. "Ayanami's apartment." He said simply.  
"Yes." Ritsuko agreed, "This was where she was born Shinji, from the water and light here." Everyone was silent as they starred at the small space, perfectly identical to the only home Rei had ever known. It was another level of control on Gendo's part. He had feared what would happen if Rei ever saw a purpose for her life. If her soul had ever found something beyond him. So he had done everything he could to stunt her development. It was largely through the use of Maslow's theory that he had achieved this. Rei had been given the necessities of life, but never had even the barest of true comforts. As such she had never seen past the second level of the hierarchy of needs. That was safety and security. Because of that she never realized the existence of the third level, the need for love and interaction with others.  
Similarly Shinji though having reached the third level of the hierarchy due to Misato, had never reached the fourth level, Ego, which would have required him to develop self confidence. If either of these children had ever reached the fifth level. Self Actualization, the improvement of themselves, the scenario would have been in grave danger, averting instrumentality was perhaps the first event in human history, unlike wars, that instead of requiring humans to become more base in their needs, instead required them to step beyond themselves to survive.  
Nobody in the room save Fuyutsuki realized this, and he was beginning to feel somewhat ill at the thought. He had allowed that bastard to cripple the souls of two innocents, out of all the people present that made him worse then even Doctor Akagi, most of them had not known, he had, and had not acted. _Yui would forsake me for this . . .  
_"Now . . . Do you want to see them, Shinji?" Ritsuko asked again, coldly. The boy took a deep breath, this was it, what he had come here for, letting the breath out, he nodded slowly.  
They were ushered into a large circular room, too dimly lit to quite make out the walls. Ritsuko walked to a terminal near the center of the room, one hand hovering over the lighting controls for the tank. "I believe you have all been informed about what you are about to see. If not . . . I suggest you leave now." With that said she hit the switch.  
The entire room was bathed in orange light, and all were absolutely silent for a moment. Maya gasped and closed her eyes, Hyuga fixed his gaze on the floor after verifying what he had seen. And Aoba . . . well . . . he starred in a manner that would have worried the rest if they had been paying attention to him. They were not however, their attention was fixed on Rei.  
To be precise, Reis, at least a dozen of them floating naked in the tank. At the sudden stimulus several had turned to stare at the occupants. Shinji felt ill as he saw their soulless red eyes, they reminded him, of dead fish eyes at the market. One of them glided down, pressing a hand to the tanks surface, and then began to giggle. The rest slowly followed as they studied their guests. It was those eyes though, those lifeless eyes, and the cheerful yet also hollow smiles that were plastered on their faces.   
"These are what you wanted to see. We use them as spare parts for Rei and as cores for the Dummy Plug system."  
Misato stepped back slowly trying to get as far from the walls as possible as Fuyutsuki clenched his fists tightly and forced himself to stare into the distance. He'd only come down here once before, he did not need to see it all again.  
Rei however was possibly the worst affected in her own way. Shinji realized it as soon as she left his side, she went to stand by the door, already distancing herself from others, she was already expecting to be hated now. It was only natural, human beings despised that which was different from them. At best, she could be expected to be treated no differently then the Commander had treated her. At worst . . . She would be a tool, to be disposed of the moment her usefulness ended.

She didn't notice Shinji following her out of the room, neither did anyone else as Ritsuko was bombarded by questions about what exactly they were all looking at.

He stood observing Rei from behind for some time, and then he came to his decision, one that he had to make without any regrets. He doubted he was strong enough to do it, but it still had to be done, regardless of whether it was right or wrong. He couldn't run from it this time because all directions led to it.

Rei flinched slightly as hands dug into her shoulders, and turned her around forcefully. Shinji's eyes were confused, sad, ashamed, angry, disgusted? Rei did not know, she did not know enough of emotions to understand what she saw before her. What Shinji was really doing, was starring as hard as he could into those red orbs, he had to . . . He had to be _sure._ His grip grew tighter, she exhaled painfully "Ikari . . . You are hurting me . . ." Rei whispered tightly.

Suddenly the grip on her shoulders slackened the hands falling limply to Shinji's side as his head hung low. He'd seen it . . . There was something within Rei that made her different from her soulless doppelgangers. No . . . she hadn't changed at all, he was sure now. And felt ashamed for ever doubting it. Without another word Shinji headed towards the elevator, he had been wrong, he couldn't take what he had seen. He was going to need time to make sense of it all, and decide how he felt, if he could even do that.   
The others came soon enough Doctor Akagi coming last as she shut down the lights, the clones would continue in there laughter for some time before finally settling down again. It was rare for something to stimulate their information starved minds. Rei watched as Major Katsuragi approached her, and suddenly hugged her tight. "I'm so sorry Rei." She said quietly, "So, so, sorry."

Rei's eyes were glazed as she seemed to look off into the distance, her body took control and she simply sagged into the embrace, barely supporting herself. Hyuga stood nearby watching concerned along with Maya both of them had come to the conclusion that they were guilty of ignoring Rei's predicament and so had no right to judge her even after what they had seen. Shigeru seemed to distance himself from the group after what he had seen, though primarily to avoid anyone noticing a slight . . . Bulge . . . In his uniform.

Fuyutsuki looked about, "Where is Shinji?"

"He has already returned to the lift. He will be waiting for us." Rei said without opening her eyes. _This is very pleasant . . . Why was I not informed of this sensation._ Rei wondered as she snuggled into the warmth of the Major's embrace. It was the first time someone had offered her emotional comfort and it was very much a new and wonderful sensation to her. She wondered if it would be the same to be embraced by a person of the opposite sex. Assuming similar intentions of course, Rei thought naïve was not unaware of the perverted nature of some members of the human race.

Ritsuko leaned up to the Sub Commander, "Why did you order me to keep Rei's human donor from them?" Ritsuko asked softly, voice filled partially with curiosity and partially with disgust. Fuyutsuki kept faced straight ahead and yet somehow managed to project his voice only to Ritsuko while doing so. "Just how closely related would they be . . . Honestly."

"Honestly?" Ritsuko said, "Including the use of Lilith Genetic material, editing to both genetic codes to make them compatible, the additional chromosomes, and minor genetic mutation due to the cloning process we used . . . Well . . . Not very." She admitted, "Well . . . Not at all . . ."

"Exactly, then why should we trouble the Commander's mind with more at the moment. He's assimilating enough as it is." Fuyutsuki had long given a relationship between Shinji and Rei thought on a philosophical level. It would have fascinated a Freudian he had to admit, but really even is Rei had been more closely related her hybrid nature rendered her sterile. Even if she had possessed functioning ovaries instead of the vestigial glands her S2 core had grown in their place, she would have been unable to conceive a child with anyone other then another Nephilim with similar genetic structure. At least theoretically . . . He hoped . . . He made a note to have the Magi keep a log of Rei's venereal exams. You could never be too careful. And she was after all a girl on the verge of womanhood.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji remained quiet all the way home. He was still quiet at dinner, being Misato's night to kick she had admitted defeat just this once and ordered take out.

"Did you get the answers you wanted ?" She asked him concerned.

Shinji took a bite from his meal and then paused, "I did . . . But now, I'm not sure if I want it. Because in order to get it I had to betray my trust in someone who I promised to help."

Misato looked at Shinji and then came to a decision. "Do you know what my instructors told me during officer's training?" Misato said.

Shinji shook his head, Misato had never spoken much about her military career. "They said, Katsuragi, you're an idiot, don't panic about the little things as long as your troops come out okay you can always ask for there forgiveness when its all over. But if you let yourself go soft and be their friend in the middle of a mission you'll all end up dead . . . I think what he was trying to say is that you have to love the people you serve with but also have to be able to ignore that love so that you can act without hesitation to make the decisions that could save them. That's how an officer has to think Shinji."

The boy Commander starred at his meal. "I don't think I can do that though."

Misato just looked at him concerned before grinning. "Hay . . . You have the city council meeting tomorrow."

"Y-yeah." Shinji said, brightening a little as his mind was pulled away from its self abuse.

"Well, you'll have to wear your uniform, after all it will be your fist public appearance."

"Uniform?" Shinji wondered.

"Well yeah you didn't think that jacket your father wore was something he just picked up did you?"

Shinji suddenly didn't like where this was going. "B-but Misato why can't I just wear my school clothes I mean . . ."

"Oh no, you have to wear it Shinji, you'll just look so _cute!_ Maybe I could go too it would be so adorable . . ."

"No, NO, as your Commander I order you to stop this!" Despite everything else, Shinji was still a kid, and he could still be teased.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ok anyways what I'm hoping to achieve here is Shinji having a kind of alter ego, not quite split personality but kind of along those lines. He can't run away, and he isn't wrong in believing it is his responsibility to see this through. So he will kind of have the strength of his convictions to him through. As for the Rei clones . . . Well . . . Something will be done for them. That is all.

(Authors Note: If you think of it this way, if Rei was created in reaction to Yui's absorption into unit-01, she can't possibly be fourteen. At oldest she could only be ten. This also fits with possible accelerated growth of the clones to their current state. Perhaps they could control her rate of growth in the tank similar to how they grew the EVA's.)


	4. Jet no longer

In Advance I own nothing as usual.

I would also like to extend an apology to the length of time its been since I have updated so I am sorry for that, and Sorry for (What I feel at least) this substandard chapter. I had such plans for it but then I just kept getting sidetracked again and again. One good piece of news my first Omake is at the end.

Chapter Three: Jet No Longer Alone (I was out of good chapter names OKAY!)

Rei's, "Moving In", were somewhat confusing and involved a great deal of awkwardness on the part of both Fuyutsuki who at least had an idea of what he would be dealing with. And Misato who quite frankly . . . didn't.

Misato was sent to get Rei while Fuyutsuki began work on his guest room, rolling out a fresh can of sky blue paint that would at least give the room a nicer feel then the off white it had come painted in. He had never bothered to change the color scheme in his home, mostly because Gendo had kept him running about as his gopher man for any task too complex or too classified to leave to other NERV personnel. As such the small two bedroom apartment was comfortable, if a bit spartan. The living room held shelves of books and manuscripts, a few pictures from his years as a college professor, a sofa, coffee table, arm chair, and desk. No television, but then, Fuyutsuki hated those damn things.

He also hated painting, and now he remembered why. "Its messy." He mumbled irritably as he wiped another splotch of paint across his weathered face. The room itself looked fine, not a single drop had touched the pristine floor. But that was primarily because Fuyutsuki had been in the way every single time. "Maybe I should have left Major Katsuragi to do this." He grumbled as he went to fetch a roll of paper towels. The phone rang just as he reached the kitchen and he grabbed it absently. "Hello?"

"Its Katsuragi." Misato said on the other end of the line.

"Do you have Rei with you?" Fuyutsuki asked, wondering why the Major would bother calling him, she was just supposed to come right back with Rei.

"Yeah, well its about that," Misato began dryly, "Rei's place is a dump!" Fuyutsuki pulled away from the phone at that shouted comment. "And to top it all off she doesn't have anything but her school uniforms and swimsuit to wear. What's with her?"It was obvious that the Major couldn't imagine anyone, or at least any girl without an individual article of clothing for each day of the year.

"If you have a problem with that then you try taking her shopping . . ." Fuyutsuki grumbled out what he thought was beyond the phones reception . . . It wasn't.

"Oh, so your saying NERV will cover it! Ok then, I'll have her there in a few hours!"

"No wait! That's not what I meant . . ." The line was cut and Fuyutsuki cursed to himself. _Maybe I shouldn't have accepted the request in the will . . . but the Lord knows these kids need help. I'll help them Yui, for your sake._ That didn't make it any easier, the thought of taking care of a teenager, even a relatively self sufficient one was a daunting task to Fuyutsuki. And considering her final intended purpose he was fairly certain Gendo had never given her the 'talk'. _I'll have Ritsuko do it, she's heterosexual, responsible, and will get right to the point with Rei, yes that will do. _Knowing that, that particular lesson would not be one he would have to teach, Fuyutsuki relaxed a bit. Just a bit.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Major Katsuragi." Rei whispered distantly through the heap of clothes which now hid her from view.

"Hmmm, yes Rei?" Misato asked absently as she eyed another cute little ensemble for Rei to try.

"I . . . cannot breath." The first child gasped out suddenly as she began to wobble. Realizing that it probably wasn't the greatest idea to asphyxiate one of their only two pilots Misato quickly pulled the last stack of clothing off of the pile in Rei's arms, not noticing the pleading look in the girl's eyes. Rei, quite frankly, did not want to be here.

Here being one of the largest retail malls in Tokyo-3, so far the Major had covered everything from underwear and socks to snow gear, swim wear, formal, casual wear, night wear, skirts, tops, pants, shorts, if it looked like a girl could make a statement in it then it had been added to the pile. Rei was rapidly losing hope of ever being able to get out of the store and to her new place of residence.

Misato for the time being was too distracted giving her victim a new look to notice her discomfort much, or for that fact her own. Deep down inside she was trying to make up for all of the time with barely a word to Rei. She'd never shown the girl much concern, always just assuming she would be available for synch tests, practice runs, simulator reviews, balancing her checkbook. (Which she actually had assigned Rei to do once.) For all intents and purpose, Misato had until now treated Rei . . . like a doll. Well not anymore!

Rei went staggering off with another load of clothing to try on. This was a somewhat novel experience for her. Usually she simply purchased the exact same school uniform. The only time she had tried the uniforms on in the store were the two occasions she had out grown her old ones and that had been only to make certain the new uniforms were of the appropriate size.

Dropping the clothes onto the bench in the dressing room Rei began the long and painful process of putting on each one. For the purpose of "assessment" by Major Katsuragi. A strange sensation coursed through Rei, telling her that regardless of how this ended, she would not be very happy.

_We should have brought Shinji along, then we could really find what would look best on her._ Misato thought contentedly, racing off to grab another stack of blouses for Rei to try on.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"How about this one?" Hyuga suggested.

"No . . ." Shinji said monotonously, they'd been doing this for a while now.

"This one?"

"No."

"Maybe this one?"

"Yes!"

"Really!"

"No."

Hyuga sat down frustrated as he started to think. "You don't like any of them?"

"Well . . . This one looks nice but the saber would make me look like an idiot. And these ones . . ." Shinji gestured to a row of pictures in the NERV uniform inventory. "They're nice but they're meant for somebody way older than me." He sighed, "Well . . . I guess I should just go with some formal dress clothes. Thanks for sitting through all of this anyway, Hyuga."

"No problem sir . . . but may I suggest . . ." Hyuga opened the catalogue book, which contained all four hundred different officers uniform in the UN inventory, to its back page. " . . . This . . ."

"Uhm . . . that looks a bit too elaborate." Shinji said starring at the pattern. It was the 'Official' NERV Commander's uniform, which of course meant not a single branch commander wore it. Gendo had chosen comfort in his clothes just like every other Branch Commander, his jacket had been the only part of the actual uniform he had warn.

"Could I get it with silver trim instead, it looks a little to gaudy."

"I see what you mean." Hyuga agreed, the gold trim was a bit excessive and with all the black and white silver trim would work out nicely.

"Is that what you want me to tell the supply section?"

Shinji thought it over for a minute, it wasn't that it was the best looking attire. It just seemed more fitting then anything else on the list and at least, it wouldn't look outright stupid on him. "Yeah, that's what I want I guess. I just need it by the day after tomorrow."

"Right, I'll take care of it sir."Hyuga saluted and turned smartly to the door leaving Shinji within his office. The office itself was actually quite nice, slightly larger then Ritsuko's and decorated with various nature scenes and work ethic posters, the same general fair that graced the walls of every middle class business man on the face of the planet. Unfortunately Hyuga's departure left Shinji to think, and there was only one thing to think about. Ayanami . . . He was worried now that he had damaged their chances of a friendship . . . Was friendship even possible for him?

Fuyutsuki's words seemed to carry a surprising amount of weight for him. Far more then a "Good Job" From Misato as much as it was appreciated. Perhaps it was the fact that the old man only gave true words of praise when Shinji had done something trying rather then for simple synch tests and training exercises. _Ritsuko said they don't have a soul . . . But she said they made Ayanami's soul to begin with . . ._ He frowned to himself, an idea was starting to grow in the back of his head. He would have to talk it over with Ritsuko after the JA trials. With any luck the plan would gave off with only minor difficulties. Probably. Hopefully . . . With any luck . . .

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Sub Commander's apartment was on the third floor of a small complex near one of the NERV entrances. It was in a reasonably well maintained section of town and the building itself was in good repair if a bit unkept due to the lack of inhabitants. That was one of the reasons that Kouzo liked it, it was quiet.

The knock at the door pulled him away from his touch up work on Rei's new room leaving him to figure out what exactly he was going to do with the small dripping paint brush in his hand. He grimaced slightly accepting that his blue stained shirt was already beyond help and simply wiped the paint brush off on his sleeve before going to get the door. He paused for a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath, _I can do this . . . One little girl . . . I can do this._ He mentally assured himself before opening the door.

He blinked a few times at the sight before him, Misato was standing to his left, and there appeared to be a large pile of bags stacked a good five feet high to his right. Misato saw the blue stained Sub Commander and began to snicker, then caught herself with great difficulty, she would be telling Ritsuko about this.

Fuyutsuki sparred her a quick irritated look before asking. "Major, where is Rei?"

The large pile of bags next to Misato squirmed slightly. "Sir . . . I require assistance." Rei's soft monotone emanated from somewhere deep within the pile.

"Major what have you done!" Fuyutsuki growled as he started lifting bags off of the girl buried someplace underneath.

"Well . . . Rei had almost nothing but her school uniforms, and she's never really made any outstanding requests so I figured NERV owed her a break."

Fuyutsuki glared at the mauve haired woman for a moment, resisting the urge to make note of what had to be nearly two hundred thousand yen worth of clothing and accessories crammed into the bags that hung from Rei, a girl who would have had trouble tipping a hundred pounds, soaking wet.

"Rei why don't you come sit down." Fuyutsuki said watching the girl sway on her feet. She seemed to tire so easily now.

"Yes Sir." Rei nodded and staggered into the living room finding the couch and dropping onto it face flush. She felt exhausted after the ordeal but Major Katsuragi had refused to leave until they had more clothing then Rei could ever have worn in her life time. In fact, she had calculated, that assuming she wore one new garment each day of the year it would take close to three years to wear them all at which point she would likely have out grown most of the clothing. It seemed like such a waste. _Are people all so wasteful?_ Rei wondered or was this simply part of the female condition.

Fuyutsuki sighed to himself as he helped Misato hall the pile of bags in, there was enough clothing in those bags for several dozen children, he was dreading how he was going to classify this on his expenditure report.

Rei watched curiously from the corner of her eye as the two adults bickered over what was considered appropriate use of monetary resources. Deciding that it was not relevant to her or finding the part of her that was missing she closed her eyes and attempted to rest. She would need her rest soon if she was to pilot Unit-01 at the Jet Alone trials.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

On the morning of the big day nothing seemed to go normally for anyone involved. For Shinji and Fuyutsuki especially. "Now, hold still and let me straighten this." Msiato said sharply as she yanked at Shinji's dress shirt to even it out properly. She was already dressed in her own Uniform and for once actually looked totally sober and serious. Which meant she would probably get completely plastered once the unveiling was completed but that would probably be a good thing since he hadn't let Misato in on the plan he had concocted. She would probably be a bit pissed at him when she found out.

"So uhm, how exactly are we getting to the testing grounds?" Shinji asked as he trailed behind Misato. "We're taking a VTOL from the NERV landing pad, so hurry up we don't want to be late."

Shinji nodded, grabbing a piece of toast from the kitchen and setting out a tin of fish for PenPen and then running out the door after Misato.

"You look nervous." Misato commented as they waited for the elevator.

"I am . . . kind of." Shinji admitted, "I mean, I might have to address all of these people and I'm not very good at public speaking . . ."

"Don't worry about that Shinji." Misato said, "Just remember, if all else fails just imagine that they're all in their underwear."

"You mean like you half the time?" He asked under his breath.

"Hey!" Misato huffed indignantly. "Its not like your complaining about it."

Shinji flushed red. "Its not like that you know I just . . ."

Misato simply grinned goofily, "You're just too easy Shinji." She said roughing his hair as they got on the elevator.

"Misato . . ." He wined. _I just wish you would start acting your age Misato._

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Things were far, far more awkward for Sub Commander Fuyutsuki that particular morning as he sat breathing heavily with his back against the wall of his bedroom. One thing he had never considered about Rei was her utter lack of modesty. Such as the situation in the hallway when he had awoken this particular morning. With the towel around Rei's head hiding the azure locks he'd been taken back for a moment to a similar scene involving a young Yui Ikari in his teaching days. It had been entirely accidental, he'd thought she was dressed yet she had just flushed and smiled slightly feeling a little embarrassed but not wanting her Teacher and friend to feel ashamed or get the feeling that she thought it had been intentional.

Upon realizing that he was looking at a fourteen year old Rei and not a twenty five year old Yui he had snapped out of his reverie and realized just what the hell he had been gawking at.

_Goddamn it Kozou you are not a pedophile! _He berated himself angrily, he was beginning to think that perhaps accepting to care for Rei had been a huge mistake. _No, you can do this, she's a fourteen year old girl, and emotionally stunted fourteen year old girl._ "Rei?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Are you dressed now?" Fuyutsuki asked, checking to be sure his heart was still in his chest.

"Yes Sir." The voice came from right next to him and his pulse quickened again as his eyes met those of curious Rei Ayanami.

"Rei . . ." Fuyutsuki said weakly.

"Yes Sir?" She really didn't understand what the problem was, but then, Rei had little if any decency when it came to her state of dress, or undress.

"From now on, Rei . . . get dressed before you come out of the bathroom."

"Yes Sir." With that Rei turned around and headed back out into the hallway, pacing down to the kitchen to get an apple and prepare for the day. The Commander wanted the airdrop to take place at a preset time in the unveiling determined by him and the Sub Commander. This would require Rei to handle Unit-01 through most of its basic maneuvers, this would be far more elaborate then any simulation and so Rei felt she had no choice but to prevail. _I wish to be of use to Ikari. _She thought firmly. She would do her duty to the person who strangely seemed to have taken up the burden of caring for her without a moments hesitation when she had needed it that care the most.

True Shinji was not usually strong, nor was he usually firm, but he had so far never failed to give his all when it was called of him. The least Rei could do was repay his kindness, he had after all given her a new purpose. His father had made her, and yet since she had destroyed the tiny gem like organ that had bound her to her fate and awoken finally free and whole she had looked back on her life and seen that Gendo Ikari had intended to make little more then a golem. Which in a way she had been. Rei's body had been created from the inert matter of the near dead Second Angel's blood, the primordial soup of man. There hadn't even been an ovum involved in the process. Just some samples of Yui Ikari's DNA, mutated beyond recognition by her absorption into Unit-01.

He had never intended for her to find happiness or a purpose. Or to have a home . . . _home . . . That is what this place is now, the Sub Commander took me in out of kindness and has promised to care for me . . . _Rei suddenly froze and looked about the small apartment as if for the first time realizing that it surrounded her. "This is my home now. I am . . . Home." She said haltingly, it was the first time she had ever spoken a loud to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted a moment later as the Sub Commander came out dressed in his uniform. "Lets go Rei, you need to be ready in Unit-01 by ten hundred hours." The albino girl simply nodded her head. It was time to do her duty.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"_That's_, the Japan Heavy Industries testing ground?" Shinji asked as he peered out the window of the VTOL.

"Yeah. Why? Is something wrong?" Misato asked curiously.

Shinji shook his head, "No, nothing like that, it just seems a little I don't know . . ."

"Disappointing?" Ritsuko provided.

"Yeah, I guess." Shinji agreed, though this was to be expected of the young Ikari who's only experience with Government facilities was his school and of course the GeoFront. Compared to the grandeur of NERV's subterranean Command center the white dome and tall rectangular white building in the distance seemed almost insignificant. Still it was their destination and he supposed it probably looked very impressive to many people, unaware of the most incredible structure mankind had ever built . . . Or unearthed as the case might be.

"Hey Ritsuko, I have a weird question." Shinji said as the VTOL began to descend.

"Yes?"

"How much do we know about the GeoFront, I mean, what is it?"

Ritsuko frowned at the odd question, "No one is really sure, we don't even know exactly what it is made of beyond some sort of complex carbon based material. Some theorists suggest it was constructed by the Angels or perhaps was a casing to transport them through space. This seems the most likely as the GeoFront itself is encased inside the spherical hull of the null zone we discovered and Lilith was discovered at the exact center. A sphere would be the most efficient design for a stellar transport as it provides the highest internal volume to external surface ratio."

"I see." Shinji said, not really understanding at all. If anything Ritsuko's explanation had just made his head hurt more.

The VTOL landed and they were lead quickly to the main meeting hall where wealthy investors and Company chair members were busy gathering for the unveiling ceremony. The NERV group had a table to itself, but considering that only three of NERV's staff had come it looked a little pathetic. It was interesting to note that NERV had received only five invitations, it seemed that Japan heavy industries was trying to play a game of psychological warfare. If NERV looked weak to the investors gathered here today then they would be more likely to listen to the sales pitch for Jet Alone without considering the truth of the situation.

Oh how painfully this was about to backfire on them. The Spokesman for the Jet Alone project took his position at a podium near the front of the room and began. "Welcome to Japan Heavy Industries latest product unveiling, I'm sure you have all had ample chance to read over the brochures and would like to open this meeting by opening the floor to any questions."

Ritsuko's hand shot up immediately.

"Ah yes, the famed Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, it would be a great honor for you to open these discussions with your insight." The Spokesman's eyes locked with Ritsuko's for a moment as they seemed to stare one another down.

"Is it true that Jet Alone is equipped with a nuclear reactor?" She asked.

"Why yes," The Spokesman began, voice dripping with condescension at the obvious, "It is one of our products most distinguishing features, the reactor guarantees one hundred and fifty days of continuous operation."

"In a land based weapon isn't that a bit risky, especially considering the Angels' preference for hand to hand combat ." Ritsuko countered.

The spokesman snorted, "We like to think it is preferable to a oversized child's toy that can only work for five minutes without being plugged into the wall."

The crowd of gathered officials snickered at the comment. Before Ritsuko could continue however Shinji began. "Excuse me, but I have to disagree with that."

"Ah, I see we have another celebrity with us, Shinji Ikari the Child Commander of NERV." The man said in that same condescending tone.

"E-excuse me, but I don't think you have the right to go on about Jet Alone's combat capability when you have never witnessed an Angel attack." The crowd quieted and listened as Shinji continued. "My first day in Tokyo-3 I was nearly crushed by one of them, and then ended up nearly getting killed again when we got hit by the shockwave from an N2 mine. Which, had almost no affect on the Angel . . ." It was apparent from Shinji's body language and voice that he hadn't noticed the microphone picking up that last mumbled sentence.

The entire room quieted at the sobering words, not only because those words had been spoken at all, but because they had come from a child. The spokesman was thrown off guard by the sudden counterattack and Shinji pressed his advantage.

"Have any of you taken a look at the Angels? What they are capable of? I've fought them. When NERV redirected power to Tokyo-3 three weeks ago and caused a nation wide blackout I was the one who aimed the heavy positron cannon that all of that energy was being devoted to. A week and a half before that I engaged and defeated the 4th Angel in close range combat against the better judgment of my superior officer."

Misato glanced up at him as he spoke, his tone seemed to hold the smallest bit of regret, yet he spoke with ever less fear and hesitation as he gathered momentum. _Its like he's another person._ Misato though.

"EVA has been again and again the decisive weapon that has decided our battles against the Angels and no matter how capable Jet Alone is, if it cannot counter an Angel's defenses then it won't matter if it can fight for five minutes or five years, it will be a waste of time and money that could be devoted to a million other projects." Everyone knew exactly what Shinji was implying by that, Projects like EVA, he wasn't just trying to counter JHI's attack on NERV's credibility, he was turning their own sales gathering against them.

"Yes, yes, that may be, the AT field is a very interesting defensive system, but its only a matter of time before we crack its secrets and develop a counter!" The man spluttered angrily before recovering his composure and smirking confidently. "Besides which, isn't EVA itself highly unstable?" He asked rhetorically as he held up a picture of Unit-01 going berserk. "A weapon that can go off at any moment is insane, its like a spoiled child who won't be given his way, completely out of control." People began to laugh cruelly once more as Shinji's opponent gained the upper hand in their verbal sparring match once more. "NERV's day in the sun will not last forever."

To the Spokesman's surprise Shinji did not set his face in a determined mask, nor did he grimace, nor did he give a forced grin to hide embarrassment. Instead, quite the opposite, he smiled knowingly. "Are you so certain that Jet Alone is capable of beating EVA."

The man nodded his head impatiently, "Jet Alone is JHI's most advanced product, it is more than up to the challenge of defeating the Angels."

"That's not what I asked. I asked if it was superior to EVA, if it cannot even match an Evangelion then how can it be expected to successfully defeat an Angel? I have lodged a formal request with the UN to allow NERV to defend itself today. That request has been accepted."

"What? What is the meaning of this!" A JHI executive who had been observing until now spoke up.

Shinji shed his the last vestiges of his nervous demeanor as he responded. "Under article 67 of the SSDF and UN material and service acquisition charter, I Shinji Ikari Commander of the Private Branch of NERV's technical research division, hereby demand the right to place Japan Heavy Industrial's Jet Alone Anti Angel weapon through a level one cross examination test."

The entire room became silent as a squat grey haired man in the uniform of a Brigadier General stood up at the UN table. "Under Article 67, your request has been granted as previously agreed upon by the UN and SSDF forces. Commander Ikari you may begin the cross examination testing at your own discrection."

Shinji nodded curtly to the General. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Far above, a NERV transport plane began its descent, coming to within two hundred meters of the ground before beginning to release Unit-01. Rei took control as the EVA fell away from its transport, followed a moment later by a heavy cargo drop box containing the power converters and umbilical for the testing. Unit-01 hit the ground and dropped to a crouch as the chute on the cargo box arrested its descent.

For a moment the entire room was silent, then the meeting hall broke into an uproar as explanations were demanded on all sides. "ENOUGH!" A UN official roared, managing to quiet the flocks of angry business men before giving an explanation. "It has come to attention of the UN that it would be against regulations to invest in this machine when there is a competitor being kept from the testing. To this end, Jet Alones trials today will be compared to an identical set of trials to be passed by NERV's Evangelion. At which point the superior machine will receive further UN funding."

The crowds quieted down and many of the investors began to shift uncomfortably, it was not surprising that a short recess was called for soon there after.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"SHINJI, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Misato shouted angrily as she slammed her hands down on the table in small waiting room assigned to the NERV representatives. At this moment the NERV operations direct was furious with her young charge, how could Shinji do something so stupid!

"I'm just trying to keep NERV in business Misato!" Shinji defended nervously.

"Did it occur to you what might happen if an Angel attacks while both of our pilots AND our only operation EVA our outside of the city!"

"I-it cross my mind, but I thought we'd have plenty of time to . . . get back if an Angel was spotted, and the Sub Commander and Doctor agreed with me." Shinji whined as he cast a glance to Ritsuko.

The bottle blonde Doctor turned away quickly wanting nothing to do with this whole mess. She didn't turn quickly enough to escape a sharp glare from Misato.

"I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me about this Shinji." She said calming slightly as she spoke, "Its not just that I wasn't informed, it was reckless of you to deploy an EVA for such a petty reason."

"Petty, hardly, and reckless things must be done at times." A voice said from the door, catching Misato's attention she glanced up at saw the Brigadier General that had spoken earlier standing in the doorway. "Excuse me, I am General Higashihara, and as for your Commander's actions, the UN has agreed for Unit-01's deployment here today."

Misato blinked stupidly, wasn't NERV on rather bad terms with the UN? She said as much.

The General nodded slightly, "That is true, however you could think of this as damage control, NERV has already damaged the UN's reputation, if another group does the same we would lose even more face, but if a group already seen as superior to the SSDF were to win out over JA then the damage to our respectability could be greatly reduced, its only natural that we would side with NERV in this."

"I see, use us to fight your battles." Misato chuckled weakly, "Of course . . . this is why you can do whatever you want . . ."

"Something like that." Genera Higashihara replied quietly as he nodded to Shinji. "We're putting our faith in that damn machine don't prove our trust misplaced, Mister Ikari."

Shinji nodded back nervously, if this worked it would go a long way towards putting the UN in NERV's court, Fuyutsuki had suggested inviting a UN Liaison Officer to take a permanent station at the GeoFront as a gesture of goodwill. It also had the bonus of giving the UN a good idea of what was going on making it at least less likely that they would blindly follow any orders sent down by SEELE's lap dogs.

The intercom chirped up reporting that the hastily revised trials would be initiated soon, it was . . . Misato decided . . . going to be a long day.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Jet Alone trials went quite well . . . for Unit-01 that was. From the get go it was apparent even to Shinji that JPI had been trusting in the shock and aw of seeing a real giant robot in action to win over their investors. This probably would have worked if these investors were not also getting their first taste of an EVA in action at the same time. Compared to the living grace of a piloted EVA, Jet Alone's clunking gate was somewhat disappointing, when Jet Alone had lifted a five hundred ton weight double handed to show off its ability, Unit-01 had one upped it again by holding that same weight with one arm, fully extended.

During the weapons trials Rei had been able to hit ninety out of one hundred targets with the Pallet Rifle, Jet Alone's scores had been about seventy seven, good but obviously not good enough to outdo a piloted weapon.

When they had gotten to the skirmish battle, JHI hadn't been able to squirm out of that one, after all Jet Alone was supposed to be fully functional there should have been no reason it could not participate in a simple simulation exercise. Of course in reality the designers had been trying to sell a half completed machine to their investors, the nuclear powered robot had handled sluggishly throughout the match and even now was standing on the testing field covered in blue paint from Unit-01's pallet rifle and the giant felt tip marker that was supposed to represent the progressive knife. Strangely the huge machines bulky frame seemed to sag slightly in an exaggerated caricature of sadness. Not far from it Unit-01 sat with its entry plug ejected, the umbilical cord trailing out behind it to hook into the testing facilities main power grid, there was hardly a single speck of paint from the JA's own weapon anyplace on the EVA's frame.

Rei had proven quite adapt with the Unit-01, and, surprisingly enough, with the destruction of her core, her synch ratio had risen somewhat. _That calls for further investigation, was the EVA resisting a high synch rate to avoid absorption of Rei? _Ritsuko wondered absently as she and Misato continued to watch, the last part of the test was coming up soon, it was a endurance test of the material Jet Alone was made of, essentially they were going to shoot a slab of the armor used on the robot with a 155mm cannon and check the results.

_Like taking a howitzer round is anything compared to what an Angel dishes out . . ._ Misato thought in disgust.

"This is really pathetic." Misato said suddenly before pausing and looking around, "Hey where did Shinji run off to?"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei looked up as a shadow cast itself across her field of vision. Shinji looked at her pensively for a moment eyes shifting before he came to a decision. His had moved forward hesitantly offering her a water bottle. "Here, I'm sure you must be thirsty."

Rei accepted it quietly and took a long sip. Before glancing back at Unit-01.

"There's just one test to go . . ." Shinji trailed off, "Uhm, Ayanami, I think . . . I'll pilot EVA for this last one, I don't want to put you in the line of fire."

Rei looked back at him curiously, "It is my duty though, I should be the one in the EVA during the testing."

Shinji looked at her worriedly, "Then . . . do you want to do this?" Shinji asked, disbelief and uncertainty filling his voice. "I don't want to see . . ." He stopped quickly before he finished that sentence. Ever since the incident within Terminal Dogma he had not been able to look her in the eye. He felt ashamed for that . . . maybe . . . maybe when he had done something about the clones it could heal, but until then it was an open wound that was rubbed each time he spoke to the azure haired girl.

Rei didn't notice as she stood quietly and glanced back to Unit-01, the bloody smell from drying LCL was apparent as she turned to leave, she paused before answering his question. "I will do it, it is my assignment." For the first time in her life she wanted to say more, but she suppressed the feeling and began to walk without further comment towards the waiting EVA.

Shinji watcher her go feeling deeply concerned for her well being despite his reservations, shifting uncomfortably and then offering silent prayer to God, or his mother, or whoever it was that watched over a pilot in Unit-01, that Rei would be kept safe now. Turning he began the walk back towards the main testing building. Sirens rang in the distance.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Give me a break." The Admiral of the Pacific fleet muttered as he looked at the firing orders for the last time. "They want us to shoot at it! Give me a break . . ."

"The order came from Command, besides Sir we _are_ scheduled to expend a third of our munitions before we make port in Germany . . ." The Admiral's flag captain commented, it was UN protocol to expend all out of date munitions in live fire exercises. Such procedures were on of the massive organization few true money savers eliminating the cost of pointlessly expending ammunition for a live exercise and the need to store or pay for the disassembly of outdated weapons.

The Admiral harumphed indignantly, "Since when did we become arraigned boys for those people."

The Flag Captain declined to answer that question, fortunately the Com officer reported just then. "All ships report firing plans locked in sir, triple checks complete, our spotters say we can fire when ready." Visible from the Carrier deck was half of the pacific fleet gathered for the round trip between Japan and Germany, every gun heavy gun on every ships from the rapid fire 5 inch deck guns of the destroyers to the great 16 inch 50 caliber naval rifles of the battleships, were aimed towards shore ready to lay out several hundred tons of high explosive in short order.

The Admiral nodded, "Fine . . ." Letting his frustration out he barked the order, an order he at least partly wished he was giving for real. "All ships, Fire at will!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The sirens were still blearing when Shinji got back to the observation level. Misato noticed his reappearance and commented. "Where have you been?"

"J-just walking around . . ." Shinji said carefully, the last thing he needed was Misato to jump on him for anything else today, good natured or not.

"They've already finished the tests with Jet Alone, so now its our turn." Ritsuko commented glancing at her watch, "If they timed it right another thirty seconds." Out on the field Unit-01 was standing fully erect as Rei spread the AT field.

Misato's ears piqued slightly, "Thirty seconds? Thirty seconds until what? I don't see the testing equipment being set up yet . . ." She trailed off looking between Shinji and Ritsuko as they starred intently at Unit-01 standing almost two kilometers out on the testing field.

Then it happened. Th-th-thoomp thoomp. A hail of explosions hid Unit-01 behind a thick layer of debris, pulverized concrete and dirt from the ruins laying all about it. "What the hell!" Misato shouted, the cloud of dust expanded as a the second wave of shells, sixteen inch rounds off of the Pacific fleet battleships. The sound was a muted roar through the thick glass of the observation dome. A moment later the heavy shells were accompanied by lesser munitions, 155mm and 210mm rounds from the deck guns of cruisers and destroyers. The bombardment went on, shell after shell, hundreds would fall in the five minutes allotted to the UN gunners. It didn't seem possible for the cloud of churned earth to be attacked any more violently by conventional weapons but still they came. A quartet of cruise missiles, slower then the low angle shells, came in hugging the earth, aimed at Unit-01's position. They exploded in massive fiery blossoms as they contacted the AT field whipping the dust out and away from the EVA and exposing Unit-01's monstrous form for a brief moment, the glowing plane of the AT field quite apparent to all observing before the bio-machine disappeared once more into the shroud of dust. And then, as suddenly as it begun, it stopped.

The entire observation room was silent, and Shinji used that silence as he stood up. "As NERV has said before, the AT field is the ultimate defensive barrier, unless you have a counter to it which can be used _here_ and _now _I guarantee Jet Alone will never be able to so much as scratch an Angel." There was nothing more to say as the dust slowly began to settle about Unit-01 leaving a very intact EVA standing on the field. Shinji turned to leave, he would allow the investors and UN officials to draw their own conclusions.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Don't ever do that again Shinji. Do you know what could have happened, you put an EVA at unnecessary risk, an EVA _and_ a pilot. What has gotten into you Shinji, I would have though you of all people would have been more cautious . . ." Misato paused to catch her breath. "I'm disappointed in you, Shinji."

Shinji looked away ashamed, it had seemed like a good idea at the time . . .

Misato shook her head eyes closed, then in a calmer voice she continued. "Shinji . . . I am your Operations Director . . . don't ever forget that, I have a right to know about these things." Still shaking her head Misato sat back down her rant finished. They were sitting in the Cabin of the VTOL awaiting permission for take off. Ritsuko had seemingly tuned them out, and Rei, now sitting cleaned off and dressed in her school uniform simply watched quietly. Not sure whether to act in Shinji's defense or remain silent. She had decided to remain silent as Shinji was not defending himself, he seemed almost, resigned to it as if convinced his decision had been foolish.

"The fact that you managed to get JA's funding re-appropriated to us is something however . . ." She smiled slightly, "Just tell me about things like this for now on Shinji, I can't do my job if I'm kept in the dark. I don't want to be kept in the dark ever again, especially after everything that's happened lately."

Shinji looked up as Misato's words changed from berating to understanding, "I'm sorry Misato . . . Didn't I do the right thing though?"

"Oh its not the fact that you went and had Unit-01 prepped or had it sent here, that I'm angry about like I said it was good for somebody to tear into those bastards . . . What I'm pissed about is the fact that you did it without telling me! I just feel sort of betrayed by that you know?"

"I thought you would refuse if I suggested it." He said feebly, honestly he was worried that Misato would shoot the idea down even though Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko had liked it.

Misato snorted, "Shinji, I could tell you that you shouldn't do it, but I couldn't stop you, you're the boss now kiddo, I just want you to let me in on the battle plans for now on okay?"

"R-right." He agreed seeming to lapse into a brooding state as the turbines of the VTOL began to spin up for lift off. Ritsuko despite distancing herself from the conversation had been paying attention the entire time. _Misato will be angry with him for a few days but it'll die down she forgave Kaji for a lot more before he managed to piss her off for good . . ._ The rest of the flight was in near silence as the sun began to set. Rei's head lay propped against the window as she doze off once more, Misato starred out at the colors pain upon the city ruins in the later afternoon light shadows extending for hundreds of meters by the broken teeth of the old Capital's remains, Shinji brooded, and Ritsuko studied the group of misfits she found herself working with. Shinji was know Gendo, but perhaps that was a good thing, she decided after as the VTOL continued its journey back towards the darkening mountains, back towards the place that its occupants called home.

All in all it had been a reasonably productive day for NERV. The question now, was whether its Commander could ever find the conviction to take such daring action again.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Omake- Agent's wanted

Misato starred fidgeted nervously as she looked at the clipboard in one hand, they had been receiving quite a few unusual job applications lately. Hyuga sat beside her quietly putting on a cross and rubbing himself down with garlic. The object of their worry was the pale man dressed in a red coat and fedora hat on the other side of the desk, eyes hidden behind a pair of round wire frame sun glasses.

"Well uhm, Mister . . ."

"Alucard."

"Uhm, yes, Mr. Alucard . . . well your dossier is quite impressive but . . ." Misato trailed off.

"But what?" The man asked calmly.

"Well . . . erm, that is, you seem to have quite a lot of experience fighting demons and ghouls, but you know we're an Anti _Angel _organization, can you be so sure you want a job like this?"

The man grinned cheerfully, or what was probably meant to be cheerful, instead it looked rather disturbing as it exposed the elongated canines. "Well I'm up for a fight."

"Erm yes . . ." Misato admitted, "Well . . . the thing is we . . ."

The door opened and a silver haired boy came walking in carrying refreshments. "Excuse me but the Commander ordered me to . . . The 17th Angel Kaoru Nagisa starred at Alucard for a moment.

". . . Employ Angels as well as fight them" Misato finished coughing into her hand.

Alucard stood up nodding his hat, "I see how it is, think Vampires are all unholy and members of clans and such . . . your all racist, RACIST!" Kaoru looked at the angered vampire rather queerly, "Well do you want some tea before you go?"

Turning slowly to face the Angelic the same menacing grin crossed his face once more, "Releasing Control Art Restriction to Level Two." Alucard muttered.

Shinji deeply regretted having to find a new operations director and best friend.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

End of this chapter, I'm going to have one interlude chapter between this and Asuka's arrival primarily to explain what Shinji has done with the clones and show how he begins to change NERV. Then Asuka strikes . . . and NERV strikes back. Honestly I'm a little disappointed with this chapter I tried righting it three different times and this was the best I could get I'll try to return to my normal righting quality from here on and I also apologize for the lateness. Gomen Nasai my readership.


	5. Makings of a Home

-1As usual I own nothing to do with Evangelion. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I personally think it's a lot better then the last one. Well, here we go.

Chapter Four: Makings of a Home

Ritsuko sat back in her chair starring at her personal log, it seemed rather odd that off all things she would right down her thoughts now but for the most part anything written here could be edited a bit and turned into a report so it made a bit of sense. And allowed Ritsuko to clear her head.

_It has been almost two weeks since the Jet Alone incident, since then NERV has received increased funding from the UN and seems to have been given a quiet nod of the head to continue its work as an Anti Angel organization. Quite a lot has changed since Commander Gendo Ikari was declared dead and Commander Shinji Ikari took Command. All data collected for the Dummy Plug has been locked down and Rei's harmonics tests have been discontinued. Furthermore, Terminal Dogma has been completely sealed under the Commander's order's this order was received soon after the modification and decanting of the remaining dummy plug cores was completed two days ago. All seventeen children appear to be in good health and should make a full recovery, with any luck their psychological condition will be stable and they will be able to enter society with a minimum of difficulty. _

_Other Projects have also been activated to in the place of the Dummy Plug initiative, with the funding increase NERV has begun the expansion of the defense grid to include multiple heavy direct fire weapons including Positron cannons and solid state lasers. The Advanced Equipment Initiative has also been created to upgrade the effectiveness of the EVAs in combat against the Angels with a particular interest in the preservation of the pilot . . . But none of this is what I should be writing here. What I wish to state here are my opinions and Commander Shinji Ikari. Yet all I can say is that he seems capable of the job at hand, despite his young age . . . When he is acting as NERV's Commander the Third Child seems to lose his indecisive demeanor and become a far more dominating presence. It is possible that he is a schizophrenic but such a conclusion is inconsistent with the fact that he has complete continuity of his memories. It seems more likely that being placed in a situation where he cannot avoid his problems is instead causing him to deal with them productively and hence improving his confidence. This would not be advisable under most circumstances but if the Third Child can channel this productive behavior into other aspects of his life he could become more capable of fighting his depression and insecurity. _

_As has been noted before the Third Child is highly intelligent with an IQ of 130 borderline genius, though his depression has caused him to constantly underestimate his abilities. If he is able to see positive improvement made in himself of his own merit it may tremendously benefit him. _

_For the time being greater research into the Third Child's psychological condition will be required for review at a later date . . ._

Yes NERV had changed quite a bit in the last two weeks, not only was Unit-00 on an accelerated repair schedule but Unit-01 was now undergoing a series of simulated tests with the F type equipment to extend its endurance and combat range. But . . . not all was well, particularly with Shinji. He had seemed greatly troubled and very hesitant for the last few weeks when it came to making even simple decisions, once they were made he carried them out with an assuring confidence but until then he seemed quite the old Shinji the staff had grown used to.

Which was all the more troubling considering some of the decisions he had made lately, it was likely that very soon NERV would find itself in conflict with there shadowy masters and the last thing they need was Shinji going indecisive on them at the worst time. Shaking off the troubling thoughts Ritsuko turned back to the reports on the decanted cores. _I could win a Nobel Prize for the research I've done on these damn things . . . then Again I would end up in prison for illegal genetic engineering experiments and crimes against humanity if I ever published anything about them._

It was ironic that of all things, with the death of Gendo she had finally been freed to resume her proper calling as a scientist rather then a multipurpose walking sex toy. It also had brought her vendetta against Rei to an end, it was kind of hard to hate the child when the man she was after was dead and hence unable to give either of them any affection. If affection was the right word, why had she liked Gendo anyway? It wasn't like he was much in bed, and now that she thought about it he'd been rather cowardly in his manipulations . . .

Pausing in her work Ritsuko dropped her head onto the table. "I really need to find myself a man."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The girl's eyes cracked open slowly revealing deep gray irises, vision blurry, she looked about with the curious gaze of one newborn to the world. Her vision slowly cleared as she blinked once, twice, and then a third time, rubbing an eye gingerly she sat up looking about and caught site of the small rooms only other occupant, a messy haired young man in plain clothing looking at her slightly surprised. "I . . . I didn't mean to disturb you . . . I'm sorry . . ." He caught himself and then took a deep breath, "I- I'll go now . . ." Turning to leave Shinji was stopped as a hand captured his own in a steel like vice.

Turning back to the girl he saw her eyes growing damp, she held a vague resemblance to Rei but the clones were genetically malleable to a degree, with no AT field even more so, they were essentially blanks waiting for a soul. No longer.

This child's hair was lank and jet black running down to brush against her shoulders, gray eyes curious and supremely innocent in this first moment of life studied him. Thin lips parted as the as the yet unnamed child worked her mouth trying to find the words . . . "I-I . . . I am . . . Here . . ." She said shivering softly, "I am here . . . I am really here!" She said more quickly as she suddenly grabbed his other arm and pulled him tightly down into an embrace, laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm really here! I'm alive and I'm here!" She cried out triumphantly.

Shinji stood shocked as she laughed, full deep laughter, no giggle for this girl! Were they all going to react so violently? He'd just come to see his handiwork and now one of the girls that only weeks before had been a soulless dummy was experiencing her first embrace even if it was one she had forced him into. The doctors came quickly, carefully dislodging the young commander from the girl's vice like embrace, most of the medical staff had been told the girls that were under their care had all been comatose since the attack by the 3rd Angel when their shelter had collapsed. It was a rather thin lie that wouldn't hold up to much inquiry but it wasn't likely to receive much, very few people questioned NERV.

Misato was waiting for him when he got to the elevators, "You look a little embarrassed." She commented slyly.

"One of them woke up . . . She seemed . . . happy." He said carefully not wanting to give Misato anything to poke at him with. He looked at his Guardian curiously, noting the slight smile gracing her lips. "What is it?"

"I'm proud of you Shinji."

"So your not mad, I thought you would be because of . . ."

"That was because you left me out of the loop." She cut him off.

Looking back at her Shinji smiled slowly, "I did good, huh."

Ritsuko had been fairly open on the systems involved in the activation of the clones, ironically all of the equipment and research was already in place to do something like this so it had taken only a few days to have the MAGI put together a schedule and begin the decanting process. The clones had been altered very slightly at the genetic level, technically speaking they were almost genetically identical to Rei but the genes relating to their physical appearance had been changed drastically the changes had taken affect rapidly on the blank bodies allowing the first to be released less then a week after Shinji's little project had begun. After decanting it had been a simple process to surgically remove the S2 cores and have them quietly destroyed. It made him feel surprisingly good knowing that he had given them a chance to find happiness, each one was a unique being now and with only a vague holistic copy of Rei's memories to give them a basic reference Ritsuko believed their personalities would rapidly diverge from the original template.

She returned it with a mischievous grin of her own. "Yeah, you did, you found a solution that has a chance to leave everyone happier then when they began. So. Do you want to head home now? We'll be flying out to the Pacific Fleet tomorrow morning to meet the Second Child and the last thing we need is the Commander lacking rest."

Shinji yawned at the comment, "I guess, Hyuga can handle things on the night watch. Lets go home."

"Oh by the way . . . I've been meaning to ask about my wages, what with all of the overtime hours and complications brought on by the Angel's . . ." Misato said as they boarded the elevator.

"And I've been meaning to talk to you about that." Shinji responded.

"Really." She replied sweetly, "So what do you have to say." _Yes a pay rase at last! I can't . . ._

"I've been looking at your efficiency reports and unless I see some improvement I'm going to have to cut back on your pay." Shinji said calmly before coughing into his hand. "You have three weeks to shape up and meet the standards of this organization or a paycut will be put in affect."

Shinji stepped off of the elevator without further comment leaving a shocked Misato in his wake.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I am going to bed, Sir." Rei said quietly as she passed Fuyutsuki. The old man looked up from his book frowning.

"Just a moment Rei." The girl turned around to stare at him curiously, Shinji had done wonders for NERV in the last few weeks and in more ways than one, JHI had taken a hit after the failure of Jet Alone and Shinji had bought up a sizeable portion of the massive conglomerate after having the MAGI index the likeliness of a bounce back, so far this along with other careful business actions were adding a small cash cushion to NERV's operations. On the Moral front the GeoFront was becoming less and less depressing to work in with crews going through and systematically repainting the more heavily traveled corridors in something less depressing then concrete gray. Despite all of this, it really hadn't helped Rei develop any more of a personality.

Fuyutsuki paused considering the painfully off seen before him, the words Cute, adorable, and Rei, were not supposed to be used in the same sentence, well perhaps her classmates would call her cute, but adorable, not likely. At the moment she fit the bill however in a pair of blue pajama's a size too big, the pale digits of her toes barely stuck out from beneath the cuffed pants and her hands were totally swallowed by the shirt cuffs. Even with Rei's cold disposition the image before him would stir a sense of protectiveness towards the girl from any right thinking man.

Smiling kindly, "You should just say goodnight."

Rei shifted back and forth for a moment, "Very well . . . g-good night then." He watched her go down the hall with a sigh, dealing with the enigmatic child was still taking a great deal of effort. It wasn't that Rei was particularly demanding so much as the fact that she seemed incapable of making her wants or needs known to others. Making every day a struggle to understand her and help to help her. As Fuyutsuki now knew too well. Getting up quietly he walked softly to her bedroom door, left slightly ajar he watched as she sat on the futon starring at her wall, to be exact, she was starring to the south east on an almost direct line with her old apartment.

"Rei." He said as he tapped the door frame. Turning to face him, Fuyutsuki could see the pensive look that adorned her face for a brief moment before her defenses snapped into place hiding her feelings from the world, and possibly even herself. "Is something the matter?" Fuyutsuki asked.

Her lips worked for a moment as if whispering to herself before speaking aloud, "I believe Ikari is . . . angry with me."

The old teacher was taken aback by this soft spoken comment, "Why do you think that Rei?"

She seemed to focus on the floor of her small bedroom as she spoke not wanting to meet the gaze of her superior, she was damn hard to read that was for sure. "Ikari has avoided me he has not spoken to me since the Jet Alone testing and I fear that he will not keep his promise to me . . ."

That was when it all began to come together, Rei was not okay, even when Gendo had been alive she hadn't been. Her will to live was bound to her by the most fragile thread and it was now dangerously close to being wrenched away from her. Acting with the assurance only a mentor could show he responded gently. "Perhaps Shinji has been distracted Rei, boys his age rarely have much initiative with girls, if you want to talk to him you'll just have to face him yourself."

"Then . . . Ikari is not avoiding me?" She questioned.

Fuyutsuki worded his reply carefully, "I think, that he is troubled right now about what he saw in terminal dogma . . ." Before Rei could draw her own conclusions Fuyutsuki continued, "That doesn't mean that he is angry with you Rei . . . People like Shinji, and Gendo . . . they have trouble dealing with others if he's not talking to you its more likely because he is afraid he has hurt you."

"But he has not hurt me." Rei frowned, human relationships had too many double meanings, she had seen this more then once while observing her classmates, finally giving up on that endeavor when she had been unable to interpret their behavior in any logical context.

"Yes that's true." Fuyutsuki admitted, "But he feels that way, I think his decision concerning . . . the Dummy plug system . . . is his way of reaching a reconciliation, it bothered him that you were like that because he felt it made your life less valuable then it should be and he feels ashamed that such a thought could even occur to him."

Rei absorbed the information in silence, in all honest it did not bother her that Shinji had destroyed the system that allowed her reincarnation, being forced into existence was not something that should be done to any being and it was quite possible that her past death had scared her psyche even if she could not remember the event. Thoughts of Doctor Naoko Akagi still deeply disturbed her. She would not regret the loss of her pseudo immortality, though she no longer wished to die she did not wish to live forever either. She wanted to live her human span and then slip away like every other soul did. She wanted her existence for lack of a better word, to be allowed its natural course.

"Just confront him Rei, I'm sure he's not angry with you . . . just himself."

"I . . . will consider this." Rei replied thoughtfully.

Seeing that there was nothing more to be done Fuyutsuki turned to leave.

"Goodnight again, sir."

"Goodnight Rei." In the shadows the smile etched on the old mans face was invisible.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Oh, wow a Mi 35-G transport helicopter, I never thought I'd have a chance to ride on one of these hot momma's!"

Shinji sighed to himself, mentally bashing his face in at asking Touji and Kensuke along for the flight. The good news was that he had been able to keep his identity secret from Kensuke and the public at large. The bad news was that he had been able to keep it from Kensuke and the Public at large, meaning that he was still treated like a kid by most people. Not that he minded in most cases, but a personal call by the Commander of NERV may have held a little more wait with the 5th Fleet if he could actually admit his identity openly. Though he supposed it was also a good thing that his identity wasn't well known, in his station as a mere 'Pilot' He would be able to assess the Second Child without worrying about her trying to sucker up to him as her boss.

"Thanks for taking us along on this trip Misato." Touji shouted over the thunder of the rotor blades.

"Oh don't thank me, you guys needed to get out of the mountains, and I thought why not bring you along on this little date." Touji went off on a tangent dreamily commenting to Misato that he would never take off the rather ugly baseball cap he was wearing 'just for her' -cough- snicker- yeah- Shinji smiled slightly at the jocks enthusiasm, he'd been in much better spirits ever since his sister had been transferred to the NERV infirmary ward. Shinji had been happy to at least start on the path to righting some of the wrongs he felt were ultimately his families doing, and it was good PR for NERV besides.

His face darkened once more however when he remembered just what he was heading to personally oversee. Shinji had seen his father's files, there was more then just Unit-02 being transported by the pacific fleet.

"So how much longer until we land?" Shinji asked beginning to grow fidgety from the wait, his hands clenched reflexively as if to work out the tension.

"Oh not much longer, we're going to take a cruise on that little boat right . . . there." Misato pointed to the rapidly clearing cloud bank where the first parts of the UN pacific fleet were becoming visible.

"Woh! One, two, three, four, FIVE carriers and FOUR battleships what a fleet!"

"That's your little boat?" Touji asked.

"Frankly I'm surprised such a crust old relic can still stay afloat." Misato commented.

"Its not that bad, she's a vintage model from just before the Second Impact, she was originally going to be christened the Ronald Regan but after the Unified Peacekeeping forces were established it ended up as the Flagship of the UN pacific fleet." Kensuke went on about the ships draft, reactor rating, crew compliment, all of the minute pieces of information that the other three passengers could have done without. Thankfully the heavy lift chopper landed on the cleared deck space with no further difficulty and immediately began disengaging the heavy cargo box attached to its mounting points.

Kensuke was the first to the ground running around snapping shots of all the aircraft laid out on the deck, it was an Otaku's smorgasbord and he didn't seem likely to waste it. Touji went running ahead as a gust of wind whipped off the hat that had moments ago become his most valued possession. Shinji and Misato trailed behind, Misato busy trying to get her sealegs under her. "I told you not to have that Yebisu before we took off." Shinji said with no pity for his friend and subordinates unfortunate situation.

"Oh, just be quiet and let me suffer by myself." She muttered, Shinji just shrugged as he dropped the pair of wrap around sunglasses over his face protectively.

Touji was well ahead of the group trying to catch his hat before it was blown over the side of the Super Carrier and taken to a watery grave. In that regard the red high healed shoe that crashed down on top of it could be called a mixed blessing. "Hay, get off of that . . ." Touji's words were drowned out by the German accented Japanese from the offending shoe's owner.

"Well, hello Misato, its been a while."

Misato perked up a little at the comment from the Second Child. "Its good to see you too Asuka, you've certainly grown."

"Uh-huh, and its not just my height, my figure's filled out as well." Shinji was too shy to comment on such things but she was right on that, he'd had to recheck the proportions listed in her file when he had first read it. The perverted little part of his mind that lay locked behind multiple armored blast doors to put the GeoFront to shame wondered idly if they were real.

"Allow me to introduce you, this is Asuka Langley Sorhyu, the Second Child." Misato said, introducing the attractive young woman, her face was a mixture of harder European features softened by her mostly Japanese ancestry and her hair seemed too long to be practical for piloting, not left like it was out in a loose wind whipped mane anyways.

The rest of Shinji's mind was preparing to say hello to his new colleague. Before such thoughts could go any further however the wind picked up once more catching on the redheads yellow sun dress and hiking it up in a tasteless recreation of the famous Marilyn Monroe scene.

Smack "Don't"-smack "You"-smack "Look!" The three males stood in mild shock at the trauma the girl had just inflicted upon their faces. A red hand print that would hopefully fade . . . with time . . . maybe.

"What the hell was that for!" Touji shouted.

"That's the viewing fee." The redhead replied arrogantly, "Not bad, ne?"

"Its overpriced . . ." Touji said back as he undid his belt buckle, "Here's your change." Shinji had to admit, there were some stupid things, and there were some _stupid_ things, dropping your pants in front of a short tempered and arrogant young woman was one of those stupid things. Touji received another slap for his assigning display, "Such and idiot!" Asuka muttered in disgust as she passed him by and came up to Misato, "So where's the famous Third Child." Paling visibly she glanced back at Touji, "Oich, nine . . ."

"Don't worry Asuka this is Shinji." She patted her flat mate on the back drawing Asuka's attention to him.

Looking him over with a thoughtful eye, "Not much to look at now is he." She finally decided.

_Just remember Shinji she's rather proud and she had a right to that first slap._ He told himself tightly, it had really hurt.

"Well, you should withhold judgement for now." Misato said slyly.

Shinji looked at her accusingly but stayed quiet as they walked towards the Carriers island section where they could ascend to the bridge.

Asuka went on about how high her synch score was and how Shinji and Rei were going to be relegated to backup duty when they got back to Tokyo-03 with Unit-02. Shinji didn't care much about whether Asuka was better than him or Rei. Rei probably didn't care either so he politely nodded and acted suitably impressed at her self proclaimed exploits.

"After all the Japan branch only has a pair of test machines, you'll be able to rest easy when you get my Unit-02!" She was still trailing one when they reached the bridge, Misato simply barging in unannounced and showing the social grace of a baby elephant. "Hello Admiral Manchester it's a pleasure to meet you." She said shaking the hand of the gray haired man standing next to the helmsman. There was only a slight problem with Misato's over energetic greeting.

"I'm . . . not the Admiral." The man commented, on closer inspection he wore a Captains rank insignia.

"I am." A stern voice came from the seat directly behind them. Misato turned chucking to hide her embarrassment, "Erm, of course you are." She shook his hand quickly and pulled out the paper work that would sign jurisdiction of Unit-02 over to the Japan branch. "Under the jurisdiction of NERV I hereby request that you hand over authority of Evangelion Unit-02 to us."

The Captain looked the paperwork over frowning, "Everything is in order . . . But I will not sign that thing over to you until we reach the harbor. The sea is our jurisdiction, you will follow our rules here."

Misato didn't let it show but she had expected as much, "Just be sure to have the umbilical linked with your ships reactor, if a combat situation arises NERV's authority _will _supersede yours and it is important that we be able to use the EVA in such an event."

He snorted, "You think I would let you use that thing here?"

"Well the EVA's are pretty expensive, and each one takes a long time to build it would be a shame to lose one due to over site." Shinji reasoned.

"I hardly need to be told how to operate my own ship by a child." The Admiral spat indignantly quieting Shinji with an irritated glare. "You'll have your power feed, but I guarantee you won't need it." He waved his hand in dismissal.

If Misato took the old Admirals words personally she didn't show it instead giving him a slightly bow. "Well thank you regardless for your hard work, just get us to New Yokozuka as soon as possible, m'kay?" Turning to the pack of children she was riding herd over she gestured towards the door. "So, lets head to the Cafeteria, we have a good half days voyage left you know."

"What an excellent idea Katsuragi, and maybe we can catch up in all that time." A voice came from the bridge hatch. Misato paled eye twitching as she saw the man leaning in against the bulkhead. The scruffy unshaven features were all too familiar. "Y-you!"

"Kaji!" Asuka shouted running to glomp onto the new arrival.

Shinji looked back and forth between Misato and the newcomer, his carefully developed commanders sense was saying they knew each other. Fancy that.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The members of SEELE were not pleased with events to date.

"How could Ikari do this!" SEELE 07 shouted angrily, "He could not have outmaneuvered us, NERV was supposed to fall into our hands in the case of his death."

"It appears that he was prepared for such a contingency." SEELE 02 replied, "Its been confirmed all of the papers and accounts were fakes, he played us all for fools!"

"How did he get away with this!" SEELE 11 Roared.

"Gentlemen we have already settled this before." SEELE 01, Kiel Lorenz replied with a remarkable amount of calm. "It was our own arrogance that allowed Ikari to move those assets, we all agreed that working to give ownership of the GeoFront to Ikari was the best way to internalize NERV and minimize any external involvement with the Evangelions. We could never expected his treachery to manifest itself in such a fashion."

"But it has, and now we must deal with the repercussions." SEELE 02 pointed out.

"This could work to our advantage." SEELE 01 noted carefully.

"How so?" SEELE 04 queried.

"The Third Child is in a position where we can more easily manipulate him, it is possible that we can use him to control NERV more effectively, even with the GeoFront and Unit-01 in his possession the child cannot move against us, we are his life blood, destroy us and he will seal his own fate as well. For now we may use each other and when the time comes we will be able to place him in a position which will lead to our final goal."

"Instrumentality." SEELE 04 whispered.

"The reunification of man with god." The others chanted.

"The prophecy has not been greatly affected, we will adapt and see this through to the end."

"And if the Child does not bend to our will?"

"He will." Kiel assured. "That much we can be sure of." The SEELE 01 monolith disappeared followed by the others in quick succession.

The lights in Kiel's office however did not rise. Instead he spoke to the shadows, "You were listening weren't you." It was a statement, not a question.

There was silence for a moment before a dainty giggle emanated forth from the darkness. "I must say it is amusing when you lilim quarrel amongst one another, you fight so much and yet achieve such a great deal." The voice had changed greatly in the last two weeks becoming much more feminine.

"Tell me, is there any particular reason for the changes you have made to your vessel?" Kiel asked suspiciously. The 17th was an odd one, ever since it had approached the Council in its quantum form it had been of great interest. Most of the SEELE members believed it was an entirely artificial angel like the late Ikari's precious abortion of an experiment. That was not entirely inaccurate, after all, they had provided the Angel with a host vessel based off of the same methods used by NERV to create its Nephilim. Still the Angel seemed full of surprises especially the way it could manipulate its form.

"Yes." The Angel admitted from the shadows, "After all my aims are yours as well, I have studied the 3rd Child a great deal in the last year just as you have asked. His state of mind factors greatly into your scenario, with his father gone one of the pillars maintaining the stasis in his growth has been destroyed. It may no longer be enough to show him simple concern and friendship, inevitably I will not be the first one to offer him such things by the time you allow me to go. I may have to go further then I would have been capable of otherwise. And . . ." There was a certain amount of mischief in the shadowy voice. "I can say most certainly from my studies that he is mentally quite healthy in that regard. He may not allow me close enough to his heart in any other form."

If Kiel had still possessed his natural eyes they would have narrowed down to bare slits at that comment. "It troubles me how much you seem to be enjoying yourself."

The voice turned quite serious, "Why not I? For all intense and purposes I will only live two years at most, why should I not embrace every moment of that time? If that is all I have other things to attend to." When the Angel received now response the silent scuffing of a pair of a cheap sneakers became audible heading to the rooms only door. As it opened the light from the outside outlined the 17th's silhouette for a brief moment. The most defining characteristics were the shoulder length silver hair and the pure white sun dress it wore.

Frankly, the creature bothered him greatly. _It is a necessary evil._ Kiel told himself once more, with a host vessel made from the children of Lilith the 17th would have to initiate instrumentality if it wished to receive what it was after. It benefitted both parties, that didn't mean the old man had to like it.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"How have things been going for you Katsuragi?" Kaji asked as he played, or attempted to play anyways, footsies with an unresponsive and obviously slightly irritate Misato.

"Fancy running into you like this."

"Yeah?" She asked agitated, "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"Like I said, I'm accompanying Unit-02 and its pilot, the Eva is as Shinji said so astutely, quite expensive, the last thing we would need is its theft or mismanagement."

Misato snorted showing just what she thought of that happening. Seeing that he wasn't going to get any further her turned to Shinji. "Shinji Ikari, I must say it is an honor to finally meet you."

"Uhm, why?" Shinji asked, he couldn't think of any significance in his position that would make him well known in any circles and he had been quite happy to keep his rank hidden from the public to avoid such attention.

"You're the famous Third Child who synchronized with EVA with no previous training in your first battle. You're a bit of a celebrity in the defense field." Asuka looked irritated at the older man praising Shinji but then she had been clinging to him since he had shown up. It didn't take a genius to figure out she fancied him.

"I-its just luck." Shinji insisted.

"Its your talent." Kaji countered.

"Yeah, maybe." He relented.

"So . . . you've been living with Misato haven't you?"

"Uh, yeah."

The unkempt man leaned in grinning, "So tell me . . . is she still so . . . wild in bed."

"WHATT!" Everyone but Shinji and Kaji had rocketed from their seat in horror at the thought that their respective idols might have gotten it on with someone at some point in the past.

"J-just what are you implying!" Misato screamed as she slammed her palms down on the table in rage.

Kaji looked back to Shinji apparently unruffled by the outburst, "It appears she's still the same, isn't she."

Shinji chuckled, it was pretty fun seeing his oft times tormentor thrown so completely off balance like this, "I guess."

"My god, this is all just a bad dream, it has to be a nightmare." Misato gibbered in horror.

"Uhm, its not that bad . . . Misato." Shinji tried to comfort her.

There was a faint buzzing from Kaji's belt and he looked down at his beeper, apparently frowning at the message he looked up. "I'm afraid I have to take this call, I hope we can talk again soon Misato." With that the man got up and left, Asuka trailing close behind.

Misato's mood brightened as soon as he disappeared down the corridor. Shinji wondered just what kind of relationship the two had had in the past. Such idling thoughts did not stay long in his mind however as he turned back to an issue that had been bothering him for quite some time. _Rei. _He wondered what she was doing right then.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Sir, what are we doing here?" Rei asked as she sat beside the sub commander in a folding beach chair absently holding the fishing rod she had been given. Her curious expression was made all the more ridiculous by the big swab of sunscreen covering her nose.

"Here." Was a small picnic area on the shore of Lake Ashino, the Tokyo-3 cityscape was visible in the distance as the weathered old sub commander finished tying the hook on his own fishing pole. "We're going to go fishing Rei."

"Why?" She asked, it was honestly a waste of time to fish in her opinion, fish could be bought at the market with much greater uniformity in size and nutritional content, furthermore she did not eat meat.

"If it bothers you." Fuyutsuki began, "You don't have to fish, you can just sit here and keep me company."

She thought for a moment and then accepted his suggestion quietly putting the fishing pole down and watching as he cast his line out into the lake before sitting back down. "Its very peaceful today." He said quietly.

Rei starred out along the gently lapping shore of the lake. "Yes. It is."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So, what do you think of Shinji Ikari?" Kaji asked as he stood observing the sea as it passed the carrier at 20knots, fall off and you'd be left behind in short order.

"The Third Child?" Asuka asked as she swung on the guardrail, "He's _boring_, how a kid like him got to become an EVA pilot is beyond me."

"You shouldn't just make such brash assumptions Asuka, I think they're something more to him then meets the eye." He said, Kaji already knew who Shinji really was and how far his authority extended, the other NERV Commanders had been agitated at the thought of admitting a child among their ranks but had grudgingly accepted the arrangement knowing Fuyutsuki would keep things running smoothly. The Old Men however had been much more shaken by events which was of interest to Kaji and his benefactors in the UN.

"What do you mean by that?" Asuka asked suspiciously.

"Well, he _did _synch with his EVA in battle at over forty percent with _no_ previous training." Kaji said in a laid back manor.

Asuka's eyes widened, "Mein Gott!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Man, that Admiral sure is a pain the butt." Touji commented as the group worked its way up towards the upper levels of the carriers superstructure. (I somehow doubt there are escalators on aircraft carriers)

"Its his pride, too much of it is bound to make him cynical, that might put him in a tough spot some day." Misato predicted confidently.

"And that Mister Ryoji is certainly an interesting character." Shinji said with a slight hint of humor in his voice.

"That chauvinistic pig hasn't changed a bit." Misato snapped.

"Hey, Third Child.!" A voice came from above, Shinji looked up curiously, Asuka stood at the top of the stairs they were currently scaling. "Your coming with me."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"And that's when I first met Gendo, he was a bit rough around the edges back then mind you." Fuyutsuki drawled on, Rei had asked him about the late Commander and though he would never lie about his opinions of the man he did believe that for Rei's sake he needed to soften the truth. Even in death Rei held a great faith in the man, a faith likely now to never be undone, his death had in a way immortalized him in Rei's childish mind.

And that was the crux of the matter as she sat listening attentively. For lack of a better term Rei was emotionally stunted, her soul was essentially copied from the soul of a being thousands of years old, her body was fourteen, and her mind was only eight, it created a very strange personality when it came right down to it. She wasn't really so much mature as raised without any of the social taboos that many people were ingrained with from early childhood. This also meant he had to treat her with the same care he would a ten year old.

"The . . . Commander . . . Did he love his wife?" Rei asked.

Fuyutsuki was silent, this was the question he had been dreading since starting the conversation. "I think, he _believed _that what he felt for her was love." He said carefully.

"Sir?"

"Gendo . . . Was a troubled man like I've said before Rei, he never really had a very happy life and I think the only person he could find happiness with was Yui." _The one person who never pushed him away or treated him cruelly . . . God, father and son are so much alike, I cannot allow something like that to befall Shinji as well. _Fuyutsuki thought. ". . . So yes he did love her but he let that love grow into an obsession after her absorption into Unit-01. If he could have been happy and lived on I think he would have left this world much happier then he did . . ." Fuyutsuki trailed off as Rei focused her attention firmly on the water trying to discern the complex pattern of the ripples.

"What is it Rei?"

"I do not make anyone happy . . . So I cannot be loved." She said softly. To anyone but Rei such logic would make no sense, but to her . . .

"That isn't true Rei . . . Child you have just as much potential to be loved as anyone else." The words range on deaf ears leaving Fuyutsuki with only one recourse.

Rei looked up at a hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "I hope that one day you'll be able to look back on this time and know that you were loved by me at very least, not just as your Guardian, but as your Parent, and as your friend." The words were a bit of a surprise even to the elderly Sub Commander. He had just said it, finally put it down in verbal contract, he was Rei's parent, the person who would watch over her through thick and thin and help her mature from a child into a young woman who would then be able to go out into the world and live her own life. Looking at it like that did make it seem like a rather significant responsibility. Even so, Fuyutsuki felt there was no person in the world so particularly suited for the job.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I didn't know it was red." Shinji said trying to sound polite. Asuka had dragged him out onto the flight deck and used her authority as a pilot to pull rank and get the two of them sent over to the Cargo ship carrying Evangelion Unit-02. The side of the ship was emblazoned with the name _Titanic _right next to the north star lines logo. Shinji had a strange feeling he'd heard that name _somewhere_ before.

"That's not all that different about Unit-02." Asuka growled as she pulled him under the tarp to take a better look. As far as Shinji could tell the EVA was fairly similar at least externally, the head like Unit-00 and 01 was the major distinguishing feature aside from color. In this close four small beady green eyes were arrayed above the elongated jaw mouth guard giving Unit-02 a much more alien appearance then even Unit-00.

"Why does it have four eyes?" Shinji suddenly asked.

"_That_ is a sign of Germany's superior engineering Third Child." Asuka said as she scaled the side of her EVA to lord over it, and him. Shinji was busy compiling a list of grievances and thinking just how sweet it would be when he invited her to his office later that day. "Normal eyesight only allows for accurate aiming along the x axis, but with a second pair of eyes paired with the lower pair the EVA and hence the targeting computers received more data to accurately target along the Y axis as well. Its sorta like taking the next logical step with human depth perception." Asuka explained. "But of course that should come as no surprise, Unit-02 is the worlds first true Evangelion, designed for actual combat it's the bases for the final production models!" The ship shook slightly as she finished speaking nearly knocking her from her perch on Unit-02's back.

"What was that?" Shinji asked.

"Undersea shockwave? Or depth charges? It sounded close." Asuka worked her way down from Unit-02 running across the arm to meet Shinji near the side of the tarp covering Unit-02 she jumped across a coolant filled gap to catch up with him and staggered as another explosion rocked the ship."

"Shinji's eyes widened as he caught sight of the high speed wake of something traveling just beneath the surface. It intersected with a destroyer breaking the unfortunate escort ships spine as other warships began firing depth charges and torpedoes into its path. "An Angel!" Was it after the EVA, or could it sense . . . _Adam . . . Its after the one being transported by the Over the Rainbow!_

"Asuka, quick get your EVA ready." Shinji shouted.

"Hey you don't have the right to boss me around!" She shouted back, admittedly she wouldn't mind taking Unit-02 out at all. It was just the thought of being _told _to do it by such a wimpish boy that rubbed her the wrong way. "Come on." She grabbed his hand dragging him back towards the transports superstructure, "Schnell, schnell, hurry, hayaku!" She shouted for Shinji to speed up like only a true trilingual could as she took a duffel from a storage cabinet and looked around quickly for some place to get changed. Spotting a stairwell she ran down the first flight and began changing."

"What are you doing? We don't have time for you to worry about your plugsuit at a time like this!" Shinji said as he stuck his head in through the hatch and caught site of Asuka's bare back.

"Ack!" She grabbed onto the front of the suit to try and cover herself completely, "Don't peep you pervert!" The angry command was unneeded Shinji had already stuck his head back out terrified at seeing a girl naked. It could probably be proven that Shinji's Uncle had subscribed to the perverted thoughts make you go blind school of thought when teacher his nephew about sex ed. This would explain a great deal about the poor and slightly emotionally damaged young man.

Not knowing any of this Asuka pondered aloud why all men had to be perverted, with the exception of Kaji of course. Finally she managed to get the suit on properly, taking a deep breath she nodded to herself, this was it, her first battle, "Lets go . . . Asuka."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Sir . . ." Rei said, finally looking him in the eyes once more.

"What is it Rei?" He asked kindly.

"You've caught something."

"What?" Fuyutsuki glanced at his fishing line and saw it bent at an alarming angle!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"You want me to wear this?" Shinji asked as he starred at the red plug suit that had been tossed into his hand.

"Of course you idiot, do you think I'd want you to go naked! No wait! On second thought don't answer that. Its just my old plugsuit for god sake its not going to bight you."

Shinji paled, "You mean you've warn this before?"

"Well of course its not like they just hand out spares you know."

"I'm not wearing it!" Shinji said, suddenly very assertive. But then the fear of wearing something that had been covering a girls body and at had some point come into physical contact with some rather intimate places was pretty high on the list of things that scared him, along with orange tinted sunglasses and Captain Ahab style beards. "I'll go in my street clothes but I'm not wearing a girl's plugsuit!"

The ship shook again, "Fine! There's no time to argue but if my EVA's synchronization rates gets screwed up it'll be all on your head!"

"Gah, whatever." Shinji snarled as he pushed his way into the plug where he was promptly crammed in behind the plug seat. The hatch sealed and the plug flooded with LCL. Asuka went through the activation and German and frowned as the system failed to boot.

"What's the matter?" Shinji asked nervously.

"Its thought noise." Asuka sighed, "You thinking in Japanese, if you must think then do it in German."

"Uhm, okay, strudel, liverwurst . . ."

"Not like that you idiot!" She bawled at him before calming, "Fine reset the language to Japanese . . ." The panoramic display blurred into existence once more before fading back down now showing the outside world in almost perfect definition. "Evangelion Unit-02, activate!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Damnit why isn't it sinking, all ships confirm the range!" The Admiral shouted as another of his pickets was destroyed. Despite the fact that his fleet was being systematically whipped out he was having quite a grand old time fighting one of these so called 'Angels'.

"Range is confirmed." The Com Officer reported.

"Fire at will!" Admiral Manchester ordered.

Two of the fleets remaining anti submarine destroyers fired off torpedoes which seemed to have little affect on the fast moving aquatic target. _We'll just have to lure it to the surface and attack it directly then. _The Admiral decided.

Things seemed to be going well in his opinion until a certain mauve haired little birdie decided to come chirping at his window. "Hellooooo NERV delivery, would you like to place an order for tactics and weapons to use against this enemy?" Misato said in a rather cheerful demeanor, like most women Misato had a vengeance streak a mile long and it tickled her shoulder devil just the right way to see Admiral getting what he deserved for his previous remarks.

"Stay silent Major we don't have time for your interruptions." Manchester waved her off.

"Well excuse me but it looks to me like that thing is an Angel." Misato huffed sarcastically, her comments fell on deaf ears.

"Depth charges set to sixty meters, FIRE!"

Another string of explosions broke the surface of the water about the target with no discernible affect. "Look!" Kensuke shouted as he ran across the bridge to film the cargo Ship carrying Unit-02. The entire vessel was rocking as the tarp suddenly rose.

"What, I didn't give authorization for that thing to launch!"

"Who cares!" Misato shouted as she snatched the microphone in the Admirals hand and adjusted it to the appropriate frequency. "Asuka, is Shinji with you?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Shinji called out on the radio as he reverted to his normal subservient mode of address. That was good, it made things a lot easier for Misato knowing that Shinji wouldn't question her orders in the middle of a battle.

Seeing no real strategy to be used at the moment Misato just gave herself a slight shrug, "Just get to the carrier so we can connect the power feed."

"Roger." Shinji and Asuka said in unison.

"What are we going to do, Unit-02 isn't equipped for aquatic operations, if we fall in we're done for."

"Then we just won't do that." Asuka said confidently, the Angel veered towards the transport as if sensing the threat and intending to nip it in the bud. Gathering its legs beneath it Unit-02 hurled itself into the air an instant before the Angel crashed into the transport, cleaving it in two. Coming down with a surprising grass Unit-02 crashed onto the helicopter deck of an Aegis cruiser warping the ships entire hull and killing several crew members as it crushed the lower level and sent shrapnel flying across the deck. (Honestly the things Asuka has done would make her a mass murderer. And if you don't think people died in that battle your kidding yourself.)

Unit-02 didn't stay put for long. "We only have one minute of power left." Shinji pointed out. Shinji personally proffered to get the most out of his EVA's battery but Asuka obviously wanted maximum performance while it lasted and was running Unit-02 at maximum power.

"I know that . . ." Taking a breath she set her face in a determined mask, "Lets play hopscotch."

"Wha . . ." Shinji didn't get any further before Unit-02 was once more air born bouncing from ship to ship narrowly ahead of the Angel.

"This, is, getting, ridiculous." Shinji whimpered as his stomach pancaked into his throat.

"Unit-02 coming in for landing!" Asuka shouted exultantly as 1500 tons of bio mechanical weapons system crashed onto the flight deck of the Super Carrier managing to crush one of the ships launch catapults and send half of its fighter complement over the edge in the process.

Asuka grabbed the umbilical and plugged into the power supply with eight seconds to spare. Turning back around to face the oncoming Angel which now surfaced as it prepared to attack. "Its enormous." Shinji commented, and the Angel truly was, possibly larger then any of the ones he had fought so far.

"The bigger they are . . ." Asuka trailed off.

"But . . ." Shinji glanced between Ausuka and the oncoming Angel. "We don't have any weapons." Somehow he doubted the Angel would let them settle this with a polite round of fisticuffs.

Asuka's grin didn't falter for a second in fact it grew more predatory as she depressed as switch on the left induction rod, "The progressive knife should be all we need to turn that thing into sushi." She said confidently.

Unit-02's short high vibration blade emerged from its holster, grabbing it Asuka got braced from the Angel's strike just as it through its entire body out of the water in a great leap which landed it square atop the carrier sending the vessel rocking once more. Unit-02 struggled with the creature which squirmed about with all the grace of a beached wale upon the carrier deck. The progressive knife was knocked free and managed to slice into effortlessly through the hull of an unfortunate F-15 on its way to the deck.

"For the love of god, look what they're doing to my flight deck!" Admiral Manchester wept as Unit-02 staggered back and got a poor footing atop one of the carriers aircraft elevators, unable to hold out against the tremendous weight pressed down upon it the entire assembly collapsed back down to the hangar deck. Unit-02 went tumbling over the deck with the Angel in close pursuit.

_Why didn't I have Rei deploy with the A-type equipment we could have put her on watch in one of the Transport planes._ Shinji thought as he beat himself over the head for his stupidity. Well hindsight was 20/20 they always said.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fuyutsuki hauled back as he started to real in whatever was on the other end of the line. Damn, whatever it was it must have been big. "Rei, get the net ready."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Damn it why can't I move!" Asuka shouted as the slightest hint of panic entered her voice.

"Its because we're using B-type equipment."

"Oh shut up, what do you know." She snapped back before catching sight of the Angel charging towards them again, just when things couldn't possible get worse, they did, the Angel's massive jaws opened revealing ranks of razor sharp, "Teeth." Asuka gulped.

"Its an Angel." Shinji said as if it was only to be expected.

Meanwhile up on the deck of the Over the Rainbow Misato and the bridge crew watch as the last vestiges of the carrier's air wing were swept from the deck by the rapidly unwinding umbilical cable.

"What a waste." Kensuke mourned the destroyed aircraft as the umbilical neared the end of its length.

"How much cable is left?" Manchester asked.

"Only seven hundred meters." His flag Captain replied.

The Admiral adjuster his microphone to call on the general intercom. "All personal brace for impact." The cord ran out, the entire umbilical carrier was nearly wrenched off of its hasty mount, still it did not give, having been bolted down through a preinstalled hard point mounted on the carrier during its last refit specifically to act as a support ship for EVA operations.

As the shaking stopped the second lift rose from the carrier hunger. "Ah, A Yak-23 custom!" Kensuke shouted as he struggled to swap video disks, Misato caught site of the person sitting in the small VTOL aircrafts copilots seat.

"Kaji!" She sounded surprisingly happy to see him.

"Well, its been nice seeing you again Misato." His voice came over the bridge radio, "But I must be going now I have an important package to deliver to NERV central, I leave this to you Major, Admiral." With that said the small aircraft lifted into the air and was quickly on its way safely clear of the battle.

"He just ran away." Touji said stupidly.

"Smart on his part." Kensuke commented.

"Grrr, Can't we shoot him down or something?" Misato asked the Admiral voice hinting at inflicting bodily harm to someone. .

"With what?" Manchester asked, "Your toy destroyed all of my Anti Air cruisers.

Misato sagged down in defeat, there were days it really sucked to be alive.

"Now we still have to deal with that Angel . . ." Misato thought aloud.

"How, it ate your EVA." Manchester said.

"The way its got Unit-02 almost reminds me of Marlin fishing." Touji said absently.

Misato's eyes widened, "That's it! Touji you're a genius, she leaned down and gave the boy a slight peck on the cheek causing him to pass out and leave Kensuke feeling cheated, he was the military Otaku/Nerd/Genius he should be the one receiving a small kiss from NERV's beautiful operations director!

"Admiral I would like to request your assistance." She said, trying to force as much sincerity as possible into her voice.

Sighing Manchester nodded, "What is it?"

"We'll attack the Angel point blank with the fleets two remaining battleships, all we have to do is programmed the navigation computers to execute a controlled scuttling maneuver and then have the ships onboard Nemesis arrays fire all of their turret cannons at the Angel as we real it into their path." Misato gave a victory sign as she finished her hasty outline, it was the perfect plan.

"There's just one problem with that." The Admiral's flag Captain commented, "The Maneuvering thrusters on the Iowa and Missouri were heavily damaged by our depth charges, neither ship will be able to maneuver into position for more than fifteen minutes."

Misato face faulted, they really didn't have fifteen minutes, she doubted Unit-02 would hold out even five minutes, either the umbilical would finally be broken off or the Angel would finish chewing through the EVA.

"Well, don't you guys have any submarines?" Kensuke asked as he looked up from fiddling with his Camera. Starring at the boy as for the first time the group acknowledged his existence he elaborated. "Well just make it come up so you can shoot it on the surface. They did it in world war two to take out U-boats."

"The Seawolf and Michigan are in position to attack with N2 torpedoes, if we can hit the Angel while its just a few kilometers ahead of us . . ." The Flag Captain trailed off.

"It'll be meat." Manchester grunted before closing his eyes, "But how do we penetrate its AT field?"

"That's easy, we'll let Unit-02 neutralize the AT field, we can even use the umbilical to control its distance and depth" Misato said as she began to revise the plan in her head, "We'll use the Submarines to force the Angel to the surface and then hit it with conventional weapons."

"What about the EVA?" Kensuke asked.

"The armor on Unit-02 will handle those N2 torpedoes just so long as they get free before the fleet hits it." Turning back to the Admiral she nodded, "I don't know about you but I know Commander Ikari would prefer we cooperate rather then fight each other."

The Admiral nodded back, "Agreed, shall we?"

Misato grinned, "Yes, lets." Orders went out, ships began to change their positions and gun mounts were loaded and brought online as the Fleet prepared its counter attack.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Range seven kilometers, depth one hundred and twenty meters."

"Range seven kilometers, depth one twenty, aye sir."

The Commander of the Submarine Seawolf made the final adjustments in the firing plot and then nodded to his XO. "Tubes one and two load N2s" They had only received the new N2 tipped torpedoes when they had arrived in Germany, supposedly somebody had suspected something like this might happen and he was quietly thankful for the two, half kiloton none nuclear warheads.

"Tubes one and two N2s, Aye sir." One crewmen said quickly, "Release codes sir?"

"X-ray, Alfa, Bravo, Six, Six, Four, Hotel."

"Affirmative X-ray, Alfa, Bravo, Six, Six, Four, Hotel, N2 warheads have accepted code and are primed for firing."

"Set for pre ranged detonation at one hundred and fifty meters, correct aim, range minus one hundred meters, depth plus ten meters."

"Aye sir, range minus one hundred, depth plus ten."

"Fire tube one."

-Shoonk-"Tube one fired."

"Fire tube two."

-shoonk- "Tube Two fired."

Likewise aboard the Michigan two more torpedoes were launched and sent on their way towards the angel at a steady sixty knots. They reached their preset detonation range in less the forty seconds detonating in a blast wave of high pressure water and steam which smashed against their target's great bulk, stunning the 6th Angel and sending it racing for the surface in surprise, and right into the waiting arms of the rest of the Pacific fleet.

"God I can't believe they're shooting at us!" Asuka cried out.

"Oh shut up and help me." Shinji said as he grabbed the control and pulled.

"Hey, don't you touch my EVA without my permission." Asuka balled, beating Shinji atop his head with her balled fists.

_It aint going to be yours much longer if you keep this up, I know, I'll give it to Kensuke, sure he'd be a terrible pilot but at least he'll die happy! _ The vengeful part of Shinji's mind chanted this rewarding thought over and over again as he grew quite fed up with the girl torturing his head. Of course the good part of his mind that could be termed Whimpy Shinji was currently busy trying to get the unresponsive behemoth to move. "We're done for if we're still in this thing when we reach the surface . . . Come on Asuka we have free ourselves!"

Finally stopping her attack on Shinji, Asuka was left fraught for a moment with indecision if she kept this up she wasn't going to be able to do anything . . . Well it was worth a shot. Lacing her fingers with his she began chanting to herself, _Open, open, open . . ._

_Open, open, open . . ._ Shinji commanded in concert willing it to happen with all of his might.

They were lest then ten meters from the surface, Unit-02's eyes flashed.

The Angel burst from the sea, arching into the air like the whales it somewhat resembled, and right into the sight of every remaining ship in the fleet, with its AT field neutralized. They had a bone to pick with it.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The flat form of a catfish arched through the air into the waiting net held by a startled Rei, still jumping about as Fuyutsuki took a look. "Heh, that's a nice sized one." He handed Rei his fishing pole, "Here hold this while I measure him."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The world filled with thunder as two battleships, sixteen cruisers and eight destroyers hammered the Angel's sides with their combined retinue of Naval rifles, 205mm, and 155mm cannons, rapid fire paired 5inch anti aircraft guns, and even 20mm CIWS mounts repurposed hastily by computer geeks as makeshift ship to ship weaponry for use against the Angel. Even a few missiles from a box launcher managed to get off. But the real show stoppers were the eighteen shells off of the two battleships, hitting with full broadsides the hardened bunker buster rounds penetrated the Angel's exposed body to riddle its insides with shrapnel and high explosives.

When the blood and dust cleared the remains of the Angel smashed back into the water as a bloodied mass of pulped flesh and bone, one of the broadsides had actually managed to saw it in half through its middle. The remains sank for a moment before they bobbed back up on the sea's surface. A moment later Unit-02 bobbed to the surface as well, when the power had depleted its emergency retrieval system had been activated, Unit-02 now sat riding the Ocean waves kept buoyant by a ridiculous pair of floaty wings. (The bright orange kind that small children wear.)

The jokes made about that particular feature in the German built EVA would never be lived down. What could be said, Kyoko Zeppelin Sorhyu had always believed in safety first.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fuyutsuki noted Rei starring at the catfish sitting in the bucket squirming. Even after a half a hour it had stubbornly refused to die. That didn't bother Fuyutsuki too much he'd gutted fish live since he was a small child, hell he'd thrown them straight out of the water and direct into the frying pan on occasion. However it did apparently bother Rei as she starred at the helpless creature eyes filled with anxiety and even perhaps sympathy for a being which possessed no control over its fate.

"Let me guess . . . You won't eat it." He said chidingly. Rei nodded. "And you would prefer I didn't eat it either." After a moment of hesitation Rei nodded slowly again.

Sighing Fuyutsuki pulled the still struggling fish from the bucket and walked carefully down to the shore. "Come here Rei."

After a moment the girl followed him watching as he slowly put the catfish back in the water. It squirmed about desperately trying to escape as Fuyutsuki held onto it by the deeply imbedded fishing line. "Life is an amazing thing Rei, truly remarkable, you know Yui Ikari . . . Shinji's mother loved life a very great deal. The greatest thing about it, she said once, is that life loves to beget more life, even things as simple as nitrogen and carbon hold onto life they are used over and over again in the respiration cycles of plants and animals." He studied Rei listening at tentatively beside him. "Just remember this Rei, no matter what, never give up your hope in life, sometimes, it's the only thing that can let you move on." _Like I should have long ago . . . Consider this the Official beginning to my repentance Yui._

With a practiced twist Fuyutsuki removed the hook from the catfish's mouth and released it. The creature shot back out into the lake escaping for another day.

When he looked up again Fuyutsuki froze as he saw the small delicate smile that graced his young charge's pale face. He smiled back, "Now then, I don't suppose we could go get some Sushi?"

"I am not averse to that." Rei said as she helped him pack up the lawn chairs and fishing equipment, "Just so long as I do not have to eat any."

"Of course, we'll get you some tempura vegetables . . . Have you ever had ice cream tempura before?"

"I have never had ice cream at all." Rei admitted.

Fuyutsuki paused for moment, "Well, we'll just have to change that won't we." Finishing with his work Fuytsuki closed up his tackle box. _God it feels good to be doing honest work again._ Rei took his hand like a small child as she worked her way carefully up the narrow foot path just ahead of him. As the Sub Commander left followed he swore he felt ten years younger.

Yui had been right as usual, it truly was glorious to live.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji did his best to ignore the general discomfort of his sticky clothes as he found Asuka up on the observation deck of the Over the Rainbow, they didn't have the equipment to pull Unit-02 out the water to it was instead being towed rather embarrassingly behind the super carrier still wearing its little floaties.

He was surprised to see the Admiral and Kensuke over near the other edge of the deck, apparently the old man had congratulated Kensuke for his quick thinking to use the fleets submarines assets, something that everyone had forgotten in the heat of battle. It looked like that was true considering how pleased Kensuke looked. He wondered absently where Touji was before finally speaking to Asuka.

"G-great work today Asuka, I just want to say . . . Thanks."

"Well of course you would." She said turning to give him a big victory grin, "But then I _am _the best pilot NERV has ever produced and you should count your blessing having me here now, just wait and see I'll take the next Angel down all by myself! You and the First Child will just be there for show."

Shinji hesitated for a moment before going on, "Uhm, I hope you'll be easier to work with then Misato. She's pretty . . . Uhm, unusual."

"Oh really?" Asuka asked starring out at the sea.

"Asuka . . . You're a girl." He said.

"You just figure that out?" She asked sarcastically before noting the faint blush on his face and giggling. "Your just too easy Shinji. So what did you want to ask."

"Well . . . I know this girl . . ."

"Oh my God!"

"What is it?" Shinji asked startled.

"A twerp like you has a girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Shinji shouted, catching the attention of Kensuke and the Admiral who had been discussing maritime history.

"Well, you see she's, just a girl who's a friend . . . And . . ."

"Never mind that just go on." Asuka prodded impatiently.

"Well, I feel like I kind of hurt her feelings and I want to make it up to her because I hate to see her sad and I promised to help her be happy, but I don't know how."

Asuka made a show of giving it some thought before finally giving a shrug, "Buy her something."

"What?"

"A gift, oh it should be something that she might like, but still a gift, something that makes up for whatever you did, is always a good idea. Say you forgot chocolates on Valentines day, nothing beats a triple sundae with extra fudge on your next date, stuff like that. You know."

A thought came to his mind, Rei seemed to Miss his father, other then himself and Fuyutsuki she had been the only one at his funeral. He nodded slowly, "I think I know just the thing. Thanks Asuka, hope I'll see you at the Command meeting tonight."

"Command meeting?" Asuka asked.

"Its just this thing the Commander does." Shinji said chuckling, "Likes to welcome new subordinates and have the pilots gather. It helps to build team moral I'm sure Rei will be there, she's the First Child you two should hit if off great! See you later Asuka." He turned and head back down into the ship feeling better then he had for several weeks.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"The knocking at the door came as a slight surprise, the Sub Commander was currently in his room sleeping after the days exertion and was unavailable. Rei couldn't think of anyone else who would come to the their home. The looked at the door for a moment before carefully unlocking it and undoing the deadbolt. Opening the door she paused.

"Ikari . . . Why are you here?" She asked frowning. _Please be as the Sub Commander said, please prove his words right Ikari._

"I . . ." Shinji hesitated for a moment, "I . . . I . . ." Pausing he took a deep breath, "I have something for you." He said.

"Rei cocked her head, I do not believe my ID card needs to be updated until next month, what have I forgotten."

"Y-you didn't forget it Rei." Shinji said quickly, "I w-want to give it to you, as a gift."

"A gift?"

He nodded quickly, "Yes, so uhm, close your eyes."

"I do not see why closing my eyes is necessary."

Smiling a little as he became a little more bold, "Just close your eyes Rei, trust me."

Doing as she was told Rei shut her eyes, "Now put your hands out." Rei complied sticking her hands out in front of herself. A moment later something soft and surprisingly weighty fell into her hands. Opening her eyes in surprise Rei blinked as she looked into the peculiar face of a rather large teddy bear.

"I saw this at a toy store a few weeks back and it reminded me of my father for some reason . . . And you said you missed him so . . ."

Rei looked at the bear and had to admit that it did somehow managed to capture a similar air to the late Commander if on a more light hearted and goofy note, from the black fur to the mean frowning face it reminded her of the departed man a great deal.

"So, uhm, I'm s-sorry if you don't like it, I can return it if you want . . ." Shinji wasn't able to say anything more before Rei pressed up against him and then gently pecked him on the cheek, her face was flushed a faint pink as she leaned back looking a away in embarrassment. "I have seen other students do such things . . . I h-hope it was appropriate."

Shinji looked at her with something akin to aw, gently touch his cheek he shook out of the trance and nodded quickly. "That's was fine, n-no problem it was okay . . . No better then okay t-that was great Rei uhm, I'm just going to going to go yeah that right just go, I-I'll see you at NERV later tonight." Shinji bumped into the open doorway before stumbling down the hall feeling slightly giddy. Rei watched him leave curiously before looking at the teddy bear again. On an impulse she went back into her room and found the Commander's old glasses, they fit perfectly on its large head. Looking back to the door she hugged the stuffed toy like she had seen young children do and felt a little warmer inside for it.

For the first time in a long while Rei felt truly content.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was some time later as Shinji sat in his office preparing for Asuka's arrival and more importantly his first look as the First Angel, that he noticed that something felt a little off. Glancing up he almost jumped out of his skin as he realized that his desk had somehow been flanked without him noticing by three men and a woman all in black middle class business suits. They stood to either side slightly behind him, hands behind their backs and appeared to be of a mix of nationalities ranging from Chinese to African American.

Wondering how this had happened, he knew they hadn't been there when he had come in an hour ago, Shinji slowly pressed a button on his intercom. "Misato . . . Please come here."

Half a minute later the door to his office opened and Misato came walking in brushing herself off quickly the Operation's Director's office was directly down the hall from Shinji's own room making meetings in the room quite convenient. "What's up Shinji?" She asked as she noted him starring at one of the suited sentinels.

"Uhm, Misato . . . Who, are these people?"

"Oh, them, I see you've met your new bodyguards today's their first day on the job we just got security clearance off of their background checks yesterday."

"Couldn't you have told me before now?" Shinji asked, "I really don't think its too much to ask to know what's going on in my own office. For all I know they were Yakuza here to shake me down for money."

The four stiffened slightly at that comment, Misato leaned in quickly, "Shhh, don't say something like that Shinji." She whispered before noting the lack of understanding in his eyes, "Shinji these guys aren't just your average bodyguards or soldiers, these guys are Turks." Still seeing no comprehension she sighed, "You know Sydney, Somalia, the French Foreign Legion of the Twenty First Century the fact that a group of them decided to sign up with us is a tremendous honor, the Turks only sign up when they believe a group is in the right but they never step down from a contract once its signed. Please don't say anything so disrespectful about them again we were really lucky to get them."

Shinji nodded before glancing at his new bodyguards, he couldn't tell from experience but from the way Misato spoke it sounded like they were really good at their job. "I'm really sorry, you guys just startled me."

"Its okay Boss, we're a little more thick skinned then that, yo." A redheaded man on his left with his suit jacket undone and his dress shirt un-tucked assured him.

"Still I feel bad about this, so uhm, could I ask for your names, if your going to stand around here I might as well know who you are."

The man to his right face him with dark black hair coming down to his shoulder and a small black dot at the center of his forehead he bowed slightly, "I am Tseng, leader of this detachment." He pointed to the redheaded man, "That is Reno, and the man to his right is Rude." He gestured to a large dark skinned man wearing a pair of sunglasses. "And this is Elena." He pointed to the blond woman beside him, "As per contract we will act in any capacity you see fit, we are at your disposal Commander Ikari."

"Yo, yeah boss if you like need anything, we can handle it." Reno chimed in. Shinji shifted a little in his seat, "Ok then, uhm, Misato have they been told about . . ."

"We have already been given a full briefing as pertains to the situation we will do everything in our power to help you avert impact and prevent SEELE's plans, on the honor of the Turks." Tseng confirmed.

"Oh-okay." Shinji said slowly, glancing to his clock. "Uhm, I have a meeting in about ten minutes so do all of you guys have to stay or can I dismiss you or something . . ."

"I will stay." Tseng said simply, "Reno, Rude, Elena, you will wait outside." The others nodded and began filing out leaving only Shinji, Misato, and Tseng. "If you have some time I would like to go over some of the changes in security."

"Okay?" Shinji replied."

Coughing into his hand Tseng took the remote for the rooms small projector and clicked on. The lights dimmed instantly as the projector lit up a blank wall revealing a basic layout of NERV. "As you know, NERV central is serviced by eight entrances guarded usually by two Section Two Agents and a reinforced blast door. I would like to upgrade this to four Section Two Agents in full body armor and have preformed barricades placed at the end of these hallways to form firing positions incase of an infantry attack."

Shinji and Misato nodded, so far it made sense.

"Secondly, I would like to suggest a redesign of the MAGI system to allow manual activation of the blast doors this will allow us to lock down NERV central completely in the case of a hack attack."

"A hack attack? Against the MAGI?" Misato asked.

Tseng nodded, "No system is perfect and the MAGI are not the only super computers on the planet, given enough machines operating in parallel even the MAGI's resilient 666 type defensive firewall would be decrypted in short order. For this case we will be working closely with the Science and Maintenance divisions to mount a series of logic gates and back ups throughout the NERV mainframe. All external interfaces will operate through a secondary mainframe that will be kept separated from the MAGI system, this will allow us to minimize the bandwidth any hacker can use to only a small amount and thus neutralize the advantage of a more powerful network."

It was basic anti hacking tactics 101, normally computers that were designed to avoid hacking were built to only accept specific types of impute and ignore all other data but in the case of the MAGI such a system was not practical as the computers needed to be capable of rapid reprogramming. Therefore the best way to minimize a hackers power was to limit the amount of bandwidth he could actually use. It didn't matter if you had all the water in lake Michigan to put a fire out with, if you only had once hose you wouldn't get very far.

"What would you say the chances of an attack on NERV central are . . . By conventional forces." Shinji asked.

Tseng turned off the projector and allowed the lights to rise. "In all likeliness, there is a very high chance of an attack. If what I have been told is true, inevitably, SEELE will have to force our hand and the only way to do that is to attack with UN ground forces. They could quite easily overwhelm us simply with sheer numbers, in Japan alone there are fifteen UN mechanized division and almost two hundred attack aircraft. The defense grid would be easily overwhelmed and neutralized without the support of the EVAs. And from what Dr. Akagi has told me, without the MAGI to handle system coordination . . ."

"The EVAs would be next to useless." Misato finished, the MAGI handled everything from power flow to the umbilical to regulating the lift system and cages. Though the EVAs could fight without MAGI support, if the MAGI was actively opposing them it would be over in second. The MAGI's overrides were hardwired into the plug system, the MAGI could eject the entry plugs, increase plug pressure to killing levels, order the EVAs to discharge their batteries or simply shut down the massive bio mechanically weapons. The MAGI were the keys to NERV and Misato could see how they should be guarded jealously.

"This is all very interesting." Shinji said, "I'd like to go into it at length at a later date but for now my next engagement will start soon so please Mr. Tseng please take a seat." He gestured to one of the Sofa's sitting before his desk one on each side of a small coffee table. The man did as he was told accepting the seat with no complaints and setting in to await their new comers.

"You know, I'm surprised Asuka didn't make a bigger deal of it when you told her you were the Commander."

"That's because I haven't told her yet." Shinji replied.

"What? Why wouldn't you tell her . . ." She trailed off when she saw the humorous little grin on his face, "Oh . . . Your going to get burned for this somebody."

"Your right Misato but I thought it would be kind of . . . Well . . . Fun."

Tseng made no comment.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Asuka starred at the plain polished would doors before her, she was a bit late but hay, it wasn't like she could help it, this damn GeoFront was a maze not logically laid out like the German Branch at all.

Deciding on a course of action she knocked loudly on the door hoping to arouse the attention of the occupants.

"Enter." A voice came muffled from the other side. Pausing for a moment Asuka placed a hand on each door and pushed flinging them wide open and barging in to get as much attention as possible. She froze as she instead received an array of curious or irritated stares. She picked out Shinji sitting behind a desk with Misato leaning against it immediately, a gray haired man sitting next to a blue haired young girl took up one sofa while the other was occupied by Kaji and another rather handsome man with long black hair. On the coffee table between them sat a large metal case marked with biohazard warnings. The blue haired girl seemed to be starring straight throughout with a look of agitation writ in her eyes.

"Please close the door and lock it." Shinji said waiting for Asuka to comply with the simple request. "Now that you're here I guess we should begin with some introductions." Shinji nodded his head first to the gray haired man, "That is Sub Commander Kouzo Fuyutsuki, and to his left you have the First Child Rei Ayanami pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. Then of course your familiar with Mr. Ryoji who is a member of NERV's Section Four Internal affairs branch, Mr. Tseng is the head of the Section Two Paramilitary Security Branch. The blond woman in the chair next to you is Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head of project E." Asuka twisted about quickly and noticed the bottle blond sitting in a chair in the corner apparently in a good position to listen and make comments without getting to caught up in the flow of the meetings. "You've also met Misato and me so I guess that's everyone." Shinji finished.

"But what about the Commander? I thought he wanted to meet his new best pilot?" Asuka said looking about.

"The Commander has already met you." Rei said quietly looking up from the metal container.

"What do you mean? I haven't seen this Commander Ikari guy," She looked over to Shinji, "He's your dad right?"

"Commander Gendo Ikari was the previous Commander, Fuyutsuki said speaking up, but he was killed recently in an accident so the Commander has been changed."

Asuka paused frowning, "Wait a second, how come the German branch doesn't know about this, the registry still had Commander Ikari as the Commander of the Japan branch, I saw those files just before I got on the Over the Rainbow." Turning angry she snorted, "Can't you people even keep your paperwork in order?"

"Well Asuka, the registry wasn't wrong." Shinji said carefully. Looking up she cocked her head, "What is your mom in charge now or something?" She didn't see Shinji flinch slightly at those words.

"Not quite." He said slowly, "Asuka . . . You see . . . My father placed me as his successor in the event of his death so . . . I-I'm the Commander of the Japan branch." God were those words hard to say, the thought that Asuka would take it poorly as Kaji had suggested to him had been part of the reason for his hesitation, the rest was fear that she would. . .

"Ha, hehehe hahahahaaaa." Laugh. The cackles went on for a good half a minute before she realized no one else was laughing. "Oh come on, its pretty funny, who would put this dork in charge of a NERV branch!"

"His father would." Rei stated simply, not understanding the subtleties of sarcasm.

Asuka paused as she looked back and forth between the group finally stopping on Kaji and silently asking for confirmation. He gave her a matter of fact look, "Yep, he's not kidding, he's the Commander, has the club membership and everything."

She suddenly paled shaking he head slowly, "No, this, this isn't possible, this has to be a bad dream, a nightmare, yeah, I'm going to wake up soon, I haven't met Shinji yet, that must be it, I must still be on that Carrier and . . . And . . ." She felt a sharp pain on her wrist. "Ow! What did you do that for!" She shouted as she saw the bleu haired girl pull her hand away quickly.

"I have been informed that it is common practice to cause physical discomfort to verify whether or not one is having a dream." She stared simply, "It this wrong."

"Yes! No! Yes, I don't know!" Asuka shouted as she took a seat on the arm of one of the Sofas. "How the hell did he get to be in charge?" She pointed an accusing finger at Shinji, some people would have started kissing but at this point but Asuka figured she'd already dug her grave, no point backing down now.

"Nepotisms a bitch." Was Misato's only comment.

"Tell me about it." Kaji agreed.

"Quite you." She spat at him.

Ignoring the interplay between the two ex-lovers Shinji nodded, "it's the truth Asuka, I hope we can work together though, and please don't tell anyone about this I would kind of prefer it remain inside of NERV for now. Only the bridge staff and the people in this room are fully aware of the authority I hold." Shinji knew it would have to come out eventually but he would do his best to delay the inevitable, he really hated being in the limelight. "And now that the introductions are totally finished its time to show you all what we have here today."

He glanced to Kaji, "Mr. Ryoji, if you would please."

Pausing for a moment he nodded before unlocking the metal case with a small key and then opening it. So that everyone could see the contents.

Rei gasped and half stood as Fuyutsuki looked at her concerned, Tseng, Misato, and Kaji leaned in to study the small object encased in bakelite like an insect in a piece of amber. "What the heck is that?" Asuka asked as she got her first good look at the fetus like creature within.

"It is the father . . ." Rei whispered, there was a hint of fear in her voice as sweat began to bead up on her head. Ever since her awakening in her second incarnation Rei had heard the harpies call of this tiny creature, it had never been strong enough to affect her, but it had always been near. Now with her core gone that call had changed from an alluring one to a sick high pitched shriek. She silently wished to get as far away from the small creature as possible.

Kaji nodded at Rei's comment. "Its in stasis, but alive, its managed to regenerate this far on its own. I have to admit it is quite remarkable."

"Remarkable eh?" Misato said quietly, the hate in her voice was almost tangible.

Shinji finally stood walking around his desk to get a good look. "So this is it, first Angel, the Giant of Light . . . Adam."

"You mean, that's the First Angel!" Asuka shouted as she leaned in close to get a better look, this was after all the thing that had been responsible for Second Impact.

"So what will you do with it now?" Kaji asked.

"We should destroy it." Misato said without hesitation.

Shinji held a hand up to stop Misato before she went into a rant. "We can't do that yet, getting rid of the Angel's we have may cause the remaining ones to indiscriminately attack other targets rather then be drawn here. If that happens the loss of life could be phenomenal, not to mention SEELE will likely catch on, an their plans do not require Lilith or Adam. For now I want it locked down in the Artifacts room in sector 42."

Sector 42 was the ultra high security storage section. It housed anything that could not be kept safely in terminal dogma. Gendo had apparently already prepared a large bakelite filled contained with a high explosive base designed to destroy Adam in the event an Angel breached its storage chamber. For now that would be the best place to put the encapsulated being.

Looking back and forth between the group Asuka asked, "SEELE? Lilith? Kaji, what's going on?" Her voice sounded small and frightened, filled with an uncertainty she had not known in a very long time. Her mind knew instinctively that a comfortable lie was about to be ripped away.

"Sit down Ms. Sorhyu and we shall do our best to explain." Sub Commander Fuyutsuki said calmly. Kaji sat up giving Asuka his seat and walking around to stand behind the sofa as the aged Second in command began to explain, not for the first time, everything he knew about the plans of SEELE and an event known only as instrumentality, a plan that even he did not know in its fullest extent. Perhaps lack of knowledge was the most dangerous thing about NERV's position. They simply did not _know _everything that SEELE did and so could only make some educated guesses on how to proceed. Still . . . Shinji thought, it was better then nothing.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

As the meeting broke up Misato escorted a rather shaky Asuka out, Rei had already taken her leave long before the meeting was through having been unable to tolerate her proximity to the first Angel. The look on her face as she had left the room had suggested that she was fighting to keep her lunch down.

Soon only Shinji, Tseng, and Kaji were left. As Kaji made to leave he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he saw Shinji giving him a serious look.

"Yes sir?" He asked smoothly.

"You can be either a Friend of a Foe Mr. Kaji. Don't dig, I think Asuka is very fond of you and it would be a shame for you to disappear." He sighed, "This is the only time I'm going to warn you, if your caught I'm not going to ignore your transgressions in order to fulfill some secret agenda. So for your own sake . . . Don't dig."

With that Shinji walked from his Office followed quietly by Tseng who fell into step behind his boss. Behind him a pale Kaji shakily put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Somehow, he had a feeling he was going to be smoking a lot more in the near future.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wow, this is the longest chapter I think I have ever done. AND YES SHINJI'S BODY GUARDS ARE THE FREAKING TURKS! Why you ask? Because they are awesome, and no, this is not a cross over, the Turks just exist in EVA in an alternate form. Why? Because I said so.

Also, yes I gave the Rei clones souls, and well, made them less clones, I figure that software to modify their DNA probably exists somewhere and with no AT field they're essentially as plastic as molding putty. Still they are in fact virtually identical to Rei on a genetic level. They simply have drastically different external appearances and have had their S2 cores surgically removed. Two of them will be reoccurring characters at this time but I'll await feed back on that one.

And again on the plot twists, yes Kaouru is a girl, the Angel's have shown some malleability in the past and I figure she's likely to be prepared for such an altered scenario where Shinji may realize others love him before the arrival of the 17th in which case saying I love you may not quite be enough to get the necessary affect. DEAL WITH IT. Ok, that is all. Review and flame.


	6. Both Of You, Dance Like You Want to Win

Chapter Six: Both Of You, Dance Like You Want To Win!

"So then, how long until Unit-00 can be deployed?" Shinji studied the cup of tea sitting before him as if it were about to spout some piece of great wisdom. The answer however came from Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki sitting across from him along with Tseng.

"We've completed repairs to the external armor, but the five hundred gallons of industrial grade blue paint we've ordered has not yet arrived." Fuyutsuki commented sipping his tea.

"Then it can be used?" Shinji asked.

"Yes." Fuyutsuki confirmed, he placed his cup down once more. "SEELE has been most temperamental lately, they demand to speak with you."

Shinji shrugged nonchalantly, "Let them insist, they won't cut our funding just because I don't speak to them directly, and even if they do they're losing sway with the UN with each passing day. The simple fact is that NERV has been making the UN look good by letting them in on the defense of Tokyo-3, not to mention the face we saved them by decimating Jet Alone in the trials."

Fuyutsuki hated to admit it, but the UN certainly had become more endurable recently. Especially with the addition of a liaison officer to the GeoFront's staff a rather klutzy woman from the UN's UK branch by the name of Cillia Kline. She seemed like a sweet woman to Shinji but she also was somehow, distant. She was on Tseng's short list for potential intelligence leaks.

"Well, anyways, we need to get down to our strategy." Shinji said, setting his tea to the side he pulled the keyboard for his officer projector out of his desk drawer and brought up a series of pictures. Pictures of an EVA, a rather nasty looking one at that. It was colored tar black with blunt red teeth forming a death heads grin. A short, blunt snout formed the most distinctive part of its facial construction giving it a surprising resemblance to Unit-01.

"This is Evangelion Unit-03, currently undergoing construction at the NERV Alaska base." Shinji explained. "Now we need to find a way to acquire it for our use."

"Well . . ." Tseng finally spoke, "We can't steal it obviously. And the American branch doesn't want to give it up, any guesses as to why?" He asked almost sarcastically.

"Simple." Shinji replied, "The US see's Units 03 and 04 as insurance against NERV's EVAs. It's no surprise that they are also sponsoring construction of half the mass production units. If there's anyplace in the world they would need EVAs to take it would be the GeoFront."

"The American's are due for another pointless invasion." Tseng added simply.

"You don't like them much do you." Fuyutski said.

"More like I disagree with their reasons for fighting. The politicians over there see the government as a tool to remake the entire nation in their own image, and the military by extension to do the same to the world. I have no quips with anyone but the old fools in charge."

"Enough," Shinji said, "That kind of stuff is too depressing. What we're here to do is brainstorm ways of getting the US to hand over Units 03 and 04."

The projector switched to the image of a silver/white machine that seemed to be only two thirds complete. Fuyutsuki looked it over appraisingly, "It won't be easy, the US has invested too much in those machines to turn them over to potential enemies so easily."

"I would have to agree with that assessment." Tseng added, quietly removing a handheld PC from his suit pocket, he ran his thumb over the biometric reader on its outer casing and brought up a note file. "I've taken the liberty of hacking into the database for the Alaskan branch, the EVA specifications are on their own separate mainframe and so are unaccessible from an external source. However the supply manifests are available through the US militaries unified supply network database. From the supplies received we can make several inferences about Units 03 and 04."

Shinji nodded for the head of security to continue.

"Assumption one, both machines are most likely equipped with a heavy grade anti beam coating and most probably an underlying heat dissipating super conductor mesh. Simulations done by Doctor Akagi suggest this would allow them to take a direct hit from medium or even heavy grade positron cannons like the Turks' strategic defensive particle cannon Sister Ray for up to fifteen seconds."

Shinji looked thoughtfully at the shifting images of Units 03 and 04 that filled the projector screen. "_That _is _very_ impressive."

"We could concentrate the fire from several fixed cannons and probably bring them down in a few seconds." Fuyutsuki suggested hesitantly, military affairs weren't really his field of expertise.

"Possibly, but from what I understand an EVA is more than agile enough to escape to the safety of nearby cover, and then there's the AT field." Tseng countered.

"Okay, so we have to assume that both EVAs are resistant to energy weaponry, is their anyway to upgrade our EVAs to match them?" Shinji asked.

"We still have some of the base coating paint we used on the EVA shield during operation Hashima I could suggest to doctor Akagi that we experiment by coating Unit-00 with the paint." Fuyutsuki said.

"Well Unit-00 is pretty much our guinea pig for special equipment so I guess we might as well." Shinji agreed. "Tseng, please continue."

"Very well then. Assumption number two comes from the abnormal increase in electronics shipments being seen sent to both the Alaska and Nevada branches. It seems possible that the US branches are equipping their EVAs with extensive AWACS and ECM equipment which may boost their effectiveness against conventional forces."

Even Shinji knew the implications of that, all of this equipment was designed for fighting humans and seemed to be of little use against direct combatants such as the Angels. It was obvious that Units 03 and 04 were designed for fighting people first and Angels a far second. This really was worrying.

"Our final assumption, based on equipment being shipped in from several sizeable biotech labs, is a rather significant one. It appears that they are equipping Unit-04 at least, at the Nevada sight, with a MAGI grade onboard computer."

"What would they need something like that for?" Fuyutsuki wondered aloud.

"Battle space management most likely. If I had to guess I would say Unit-04 is being built as a command Unit. The plug will likely be partitioned with a separate station for an overseer. It would also allow the brass to pull the plug, as it were, on any lunatic trying to steel one of their EVAs while eliminating the threat of an external shut down being exploited by their enemies. If they used two pilots it may also be possible for one to act as support handling the EVA's more advanced subsystems or perhaps even acting as a squad leader for the mass production units."

Shinji and Fuyutsuki starred at the Section Two Commander in total silence. "Is . . . something wrong?" He asked.

"No, no," Shinji said shaking his head, "I'm just amazed you could figure all of that out from so little data."

Tseng shrugged, "Like I said, I'm mostly guessing, in their position, its certainly what I would do. All of the data fits my assumptions."

"We'll just have to take these assumptions as fact for now." Fuyutsuki said.

"Yes." Shinji agreed, his head tilted slightly to study a wall tapestry that had been hung as part of the office decorum. It appeared to be a depiction of the fabled Kamikaze, sweeping away Mongol ships as Japanese samurai and archers watched from the safety of the hills. _If only it were that easy, with our luck the wave would wash us away instead._ His attention turned back to his tea. _Its cold._

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Shinji's absent again today, wonder why?" Kensuke said fiddling with his camera, he'd gotten some great footage from the naval battle, unfortunately most of it had been confiscated. There had been plenty to film at school however. The dozen or so new female students in particular, of all the people at school Kensuke was the only one who found the sudden arrival of so many new students odd. And he had a sneaking suspicion that at least a one or two of them might have been related to Ayanami. They certainly had her personality.

"Considering him, its probably something to do with EVA." Touji said bored.

"Why do you say that?" Kensuke asked.

"Because Shinji doesn't have the personality to go against authority, he'd never ditch school." Touji explained.

"What about when he ran away." Kensuke pointed out.

"Well, that was . . . Is . . . its . . . That's not the same." He finally concluded.

"Eh? Whatever you say." Kensuke returned to messing with his camera paying the rest of the world no heed. "I guess he's lucky though, he hasn't had to deal with the Devil's Daughter."

The Second Child had been a most unwelcome addition to the class and one both Touji and Kensuke were firmly against. Of course Kensuke was still profiting from his misery by snapping pictures of the red head every chance he got. Plenty of his clientele had yet to discover what a dog the foreign student really was and that was fine by him. Money was money regardless of whether it was being wasted on photo's of a wolf in girls clothing or a new video game.

"Yeah no kidding." Touji muttered, "She's a pain in the butt, complains about everything, and the little narcissist isn't even half as pretty as she thinks she is. Where the hell does she get off with her bitching about everything. At least your making some money off of those pictures of her, I have to sit through it all without _any_ reward."

"Mr. Suzuhara." Kensuke and Touji looked up as the monotone voice addressed them. Rei starred back with bored eyes.

Kensuke was the first to recovered from the sheer impossibility of the ice princess addressing them. "Uh, Ayanami, so what can we do for you?"

"You are Shinji's friends, correct." It was a statement not a question, Rei was well aware of the happenings around her, and though she may not have understood them all she did understand enough to make some of the more obvious assumptions without any external confirmation.

Two thirds of the three stooges looked at each other and then back to Rei. "Well, yeah, we're his friends." Touji confirmed. "Why, is there something about Shinji you want to tell us?"

"No." Rei said pointing behind them, "I simply wished to inform you that Pilot Soryu has been standing within earshot of your entire conversation, due to Pilot Soryu's violent nature I chose to inform you of this. I believe Shinji would be greatly saddened if either of you were to come to harm."

Both young men turned slowly in the direction Rei was pointing. Asuka had a rather sickening smile on her face. "So, I'm a bitch who's not pretty enough, huh?"

Both boys turned ghostly pale.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Ooh, the short one can really run fast when he's motivated!" Reno said as he observed class 2A from the nearby hill with a pair of high powered binoculars. Rude sat next to him scanning the area around the building for the umpteenth time.

"What did they do this time?" Rude asked.

"My guess . . . insult the Second Child."

"Ouch."

Observing the girl over the last three days had served as startling proof that even a child could be a serious threat. "Wonder if they've ever considered therapy?" Reno said wincing slightly as he traced the Second Child and her pray in their dash down the hallway, she'd managed to catch the larger one and was now latched to his back beating his face in

"Its her pride." Rude said as he continued to scan the perimeter.

Reno looked at his partner flatly and shrugged. "Eh? Whatever, personally I think . . ." Sirens went off cutting off Reno's retort in mid sentence.

"Those must be the Angel alarms." Reno said stretching his arms out before looking over to Rude, "Lets get going, Partner." Turning on his heel the red headed Turk began the trek back to the plane black suburban they had been assigned. It wasn't the most maneuverable thing on the road, but then, it was the job of Section Two to get the pilots to NERV in a timely manner, not them.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Report." Fuyutsuki ordered as he sat down at the Commander's station.

"The Angel has been spotted approaching the coast, twenty minutes to contact." Hyuga reported.

"Units 01 and 02 are ready for deployment, Unit-00 has still not completed finally diagnostics." Maya added helpfully.

"Was it a good idea sending Shinji out?" Fuyutsuki looked up to see Major Katsuragi standing at his side.

"Perhaps not, but he still has a higher synch score with Unit-01 then Rei does." The Sub-Commander tilted his head slightly to observe the agitated Major from the corner of his eye. "Right now we need every EVA and ever pilot we have."

"Is that the Commander's opinion?" Misato asked carefully.

"As a matter of face, it is." Fuyutsuki confirmed, Shinji had been adamant that he was still needed as a pilot, in all likeliness he would have to give it up soon but this time at least he really was the best choice to send out to battle.

"Very well then sir, I'm going to brief the pilots." Misato said turning to head for the personnel lift down to the second tier of the bridge. She was agitated, Shinji for all his sweet nature and surprising ability to think outside of the box so far really was taking some unnecessary risks, it wasn't like they were short on potential pilots any more either. Ritsuko had begun a more thorough screening for the 4th and 5th Children in the event that NERV would receive Units-03 and 04 and had apparently already found several viable candidates, thought she wasn't sharing that list with anyone at the moment.

Misato was beginning to wish, not for the first time, that she could drink on duty.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Asuka Langley Soryu was at an impasse, she wasn't exactly one to brood over anything, but at the moment she was doing just that. On one hand she had found herself insulting her own superior totally unaware of the fact, on the other she couldn't step down from those insults without looking like a fool. And that was what mattered, as long as people knew she was the best and saw her as a happy and productive person she was fine. She could fend off the darkness as long as she could make herself believe that.

Perhaps that made her a bit too protective of her image and a bit too quick to take criticism, then again she had seen some of the pictures that little idiot Aida had managed to take, how he had gotten a shot of her in her underwear was a mystery she would have to ponder for sometime, but, she thought with some satisfaction, he had gotten what was coming to him.

"Okay listen up." Asuka was snapped out of her stupor as Misato gave them the short and sweet of the situation. "The Tokyo-3 intercept grid is still only around twenty six percent operational so we need to kill this thing before it gets close enough to threaten the city. For this reason we will be air dropping you near the Angel to engage it as it comes ashore."

Asuka snorted, "I get that part but why do I need back up from our illustrious Commander?"

"Its just SOP." Shinji said cheerfully, he backed down quickly when Asuka growled back at him through the display window, she was certainly vicious enough for the job of fighting Angel's. Now if there was just a way to _harness_ that destructive potential . . .

"Alright you'll be dropping in fifty seconds, the Angel has nearly made landfall, since we don't have any data one this one we want you to close in and attack sequentially. In other words move in and take turns."

Asuka nodded to herself, this would be her chance to prove herself, she just had to finish the Angel off quickly and she could redeem her earlier transgressions.

"Ten seconds to release." The transport plane's pilot announced. Restraining bolts and locks snapped free letting the thousand plus tons of bio-mechanical weapons technology that was Evangelion Unit-02 drop free from the massive lifting body of its transport plane. The less then aerodynamic body of the EVA began to drop with ever increasing speed as its forward momentum dropped to near zero making contact with the ground in an explosion of sand and water moments after Unit-01.

NERV support teams were already on station and moved in quickly to patch the two EVA's into the local power grid hooking umbilical cables into place with a practiced efficiency, the weapons carriers were next presenting Units 01 and 02 with a pallet rifle and progressive spear respectively.

Asuka noted the broken remains of old pre impact buildings laying out in the harbor area, those could come in handy in a quick attack allowing her to advance without getting bogged down by the ocean sediment. The water less then a kilometer off shore was blasted into the sky in a salty spray as the Angel made landfall.

"Here it comes." Shinji gritted his teeth and took on a determined stance as he aimed the pallet rifle. Shinji's first thought upon seeing the massive creature was fairly typical. It was ugly, plain and simple. Hunched over the Angel possessed two stubby arms that came barely to its waist, its back was hunched forward with the bony mask of its face set half way down its chest. To round off its entry as a art majors entry into a modern art contest gone horribly wrong, it was a dark olive color over the majority of its body. _That thing . . . its body shape reminds me of something._ Shinji thought.

"Okay then, Shinji cover me!"

Shinji glanced to Asuka in surprise before Unit-02 launched itself into a charge. "Hey, wait a second, Asuka!"

"Ladies first!" She shouted back at him as she leapt effortlessly along path of half submerged debris. Shinji no knowing what else to do simply opened fire with the pallet rifle, if the Angel could be beaten quickly . . .

The Angel was left with no chance to counter attack as one of its opponents landed directly before it and with a single clean movement opened it from its hunched buck and the way through, neatly slicing it in half.

Shinji stopped firing and blinked a few times, "Well I'll be damned." He said stupidly.

"How do you like that Commander, a real fight should be clean and elegant, without waste." The Angel's carcass quivered slightly.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted in warning, it was too late to do anything however, the Angel's halves broke away from one another limbs growing out to mirror the remaining half of their symmetrical bodies. Where the formerly defeated Angel had stood two smaller duplicates were now ready to battle back to back.

_That's what it reminded me of, a starfish. _Shinji thought rather surreally just as Misato shouted over the radio.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The briefing began quietly with the room so quiet the projector's fan was audible, the pre recorded voice of Lieutenant Ibuki read off the briefing. "Today at 10:58 AM Unit-01 was attacked by one of the targets, Alpha, which had separated from the other target, submerged two kilometers off Surugawan bay." The picture of Unit-01 taken by one of the rescue VTOLs showed the behemoth in a pitiful state legs up in the air as it sat embedded in the bay floor. _Forgive me Mother._ He thought apologetically as he suddenly realized it was entirely possible that his mother's consciousness, which Ritsuko believed retained some level of awareness within the EVA, may have felt that.

The briefing continue, "Twenty seconds later Unit-02 was stopped by target Beta's attack. I believe the project chairperson summed it up best."

"THIS IS PATHETIC!" A short clip of Ritsuko's audio log shouted.

Asuka stayed quiet gritting her teeth, she wanted to tear into Shinji full out for how useless he had been but that would only serve to put her in an even deep grave.

"At 11:03 AM NERV abandoned the operation and transferred command to the UN secondary force." Maya's briefing continued. Sequential pictures of the twin Angel's making a slow advance across the country side filled the screen.

"We had to call in UN assistance on this one too." Shinji was almost ashamed that such help had been required.

"NERV has been completely humiliated by this." Fuyutsuki agreed, "We've all but undone all we managed to accomplish as the JetAlone trials." At least the UN military was pleased with them, the fact that NERV had been more open and in general cooperative recently served as a bit of a cushion against the ridicule they would have otherwise received.

"At 11:05 AM, the UN forces made an attack with an N2 mine." The next picture in the slide show was nearly completely white from the intense blast of light generated by the N2 mines detonation.

"We're going to have to redraw the map again." Fuyutsuki growled before slamming his hands down on the table, "Damn it, the UN makes us pay for the surveys!" The aging sub-commander looked mildly surprised at his own outburst and sat down quickly.

"The Attack succeeded in burning off twenty seven percent of the targets's structural mass." If the Angel hadn't been about to win any beauty contests before, it was in no danger of winning one now, the twin Angel pairs were little more then a pair of half melted mounds leaning on each other for support.

"Well, at least it _looks_ sort of dead." Asuka mumbled.

The briefing ended as the lights came back up, Shinji stood and looked at Asuka. "What do you think our job is here, Asuka, tell me, why are you here?"

"To pilot EVA." She said.

"No, that's not it." Shinji shook his head, frustration building as he sat back down, "Our job is to beat the Angel's, and the only way we're going to do that is if we can work together." Fuyutsuki nodded in agreement with NERV's commander. "Now, how in the hell do we do that?" Shinji wondered aloud. The thud as the Sub-commander banged his head against the table got everyone's attention.

"Well, at least we have some time to regroup and plan our strategy and you really can't ask for more then that." Kaji said cheerfully, the scruffy and eternally unshaven man stood leaning against the briefing room's back wall having observed events he uncrossed his arms and made to leave.

"And where are you going?" Misato asked irritably.

"Oh, I have something I want to ask Ritsuko about, hope to see you again soon Misato." Kaji waved over his back and was quickly gone from sight.

Shinji stood again and headed for the door as well, "I think I'm going to go talk to Tseng maybe we can come up with something, you want to come Misato?"

The Operation's director glanced at the clock quickly and shook her head, "No, I have to finish some more paperwork before I can head home tonight." _The UN standard release forms are fifty pages long, then another twenty seven pages for authorizing the N2 mine drop, then the two hundred and twelve pages for the coast guards assistance in retrieving the EVAs, and the four hundred and eleven pages to authorize payment for the new map surveys . . . adds up to seven hundred pages, at one page a minute on average that's . . . Almost twelve hours._ Misato groaned softly as she plopped her head down on the table before her.

As the rest of the staff quietly filed out Asuka was left clenching her fists in her lap, how had this turned into such a total sheep screw? Her eyes burned slightly, _damn it, don't cry, not over something this stupid . . ._ "Damn it."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"What we know about the Angel so far is that it can synchronize attacks between its two halves. At first glance we would assume this was some sort of radio communication or perhaps usage of its AT field is a transmission medium. However broad spectrum analyses by the MAGI has emphatically proven that the Angel is not communicating by any known means between its body pairs." Tseng looked between the gathered staff later that evening as they sat in their usual seat around Shinji's office, Rei and Asuka were absent from the meeting, Rei due to a medical checkup and Asuka by her own choice.

"I believe doctor Akagi has a theory on this matter." Tseng nodded to the bottle blond.

Ritsuko stood up quickly glancing over the clipboard in her hand. "From what we can see the Angel's seem to be synchronizing with each other, much akin to say, setting two watches at exactly the same time."

"So they're totally separate when they're fighting as a pair?" Shinji wondered.

"Yes, by what we can see, the Angels each most likely inherit the battle plan that they came up with in their combined form and then split off to execute it, since they have identical trains of thought they seem to act as if by some form of link, but the truth is that they just know how the other is going to react to the situation. Therefore all we should have to do to defeat them is throw off their synchronization."

Shinji nodded, "That sounds like a good idea, but how do we do that?"

"I might have an idea." Kaji said leaning back easily into the heavy padding of the couch he took up along with Tseng. "Ritsuko, how well do you think the MAGI could choreograph?"

Shinji leaned back in his own chair lacing his hand together in his lap and smiling slightly as he listened, this would be the perfect solution to Asuka's teamwork problem.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The next afternoon was as hot as usual in post Impact Japan, the cicada's were chirping furiously as Shinji slowly trudged down the sidewalk. Rei was right behind him carrying a small duffel bag and clutching her teddy bear tight to her side. They both were wearing coolie hats that Fuyutsuki had insisted on for the long walk to Misato's apartment telling Rei that she should not go outside without protection on such a hot day.

_Rei only did it because he asked, I don't think she ever even considers her own self preservation. Hmm, he's really protective towards her, I guess, that's how a father would act. _Shinji thought looking up towards the sky. "It's really hot." He said.

"Yes. . . It is." Rei said blandly.

_So much for starting a conversation,_ Shinji bowed his head in defeat.

A moving truck passed them by as they approached Misato's apartment, reminding Shinji of what to expect when he go there. "Rei."

"Yes."

"Do you think you'll be alright working with Asuka?" Shinji asked.

"I will do as I am ordered." Rei said before pausing, "Pilot Soryu requested that we be friends earlier today . . . If that is your order I . . ."

Shinji shook his head, "It shouldn't have to be an order Rei, if you want to be her friend then go ahead."

"Perhaps . . . I will accept then." Rei said after some contemplation, "Ikari, what does one do as a friend?"

"Well that's easy they . . ." Shinji stopped in his track and scratched his head, "Come to think of it I don't really know, they just hang out I guess, I mean, that's what I do with Kensuke and Touji . . . But . . ." _Aren't friends supposed to stand up for you and stuff . . . I guess Touji and Kensuke would if it came to that, but its not like they can help me in my situation._ Shinji sighed inwardly, his head piqued suddenly as they reached the apartment building. "I apologize if it's a little messy." Shinji said bowing as he turned to open the door.

They moved inside finally getting free of the mid afternoon sun and back into the haven of an air conditioned room. Rei followed Shinji down the hallway quietly noting the layout of the apartment as she went. She was going to be here for the next several days so it was best to become acclimated quickly.

Rei heard the door to the livingroom sliding open, then silence, and then Shinji's shout of surprise. Her attention was wrenched away from examining the rest of her surroundings as Shinji stepped back looking shocked. "What in the hell are these boxes doing here!"

"Ah, so you're here, eh?" Shinji turned to look as Asuka currently fresh from a bath in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt which left little to the male imagination.

Shinji pointed once more to the living room where moving boxes were stacked five high in places. "What the heck are these!" _How am I supposed to clean around all of this!_

"Its not my fault that I can't fit all of my stuff in my room, why do Japanese houses have to be so small anyway?" She shrugged as she walked past Shinji and started playing with the sliding door that lead into the livingroom, "And what's with this, none of the inside doors have locks on them! Its weird."

"Its Japanese tradition to put the interest of others before one's self." Misato said from behind the young woman causing her to nearly jump out of her skin in surprise.

"Misato." Shinji and Asuka said at once, Shinji with some relief.

"Hay, so Rei's here too, that's good I'm sure you two will hit it off just fine." Misato said cheerfully.

Asuka frowned, "What's that supposed to mean . . . Misato?" After a moment rummaging through the duffel bag on her back she tossed what looked like an exercise outfit to her. "You might want to put those on, I'll explain once you and Rei are ready." Asuka turned to note Rei already removing a matching outfit from her own small duffel bag.

Shinji dissappeared into the living room grumbling about how the boxes through off his cleaning routine. Meanwhile, Misato began explaining the brilliance of 'her' plan to the girls. What she told them convinced Asuka that Misato was outright insane.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

". . . And get those components moved into position ASAP, we need to put down the primer coating before 0400 tomorrow morning." Ritsuko shouted through the loudspeaker she was holding before taking another gulp of her coffee.

"Wow, who knew she could be such a workaholic." One of the maintenance technicians muttered.

"This was how she was before she started banging the old Commander." Another said dryly. It wasn't like Ritsuko's late night rendevous were all that clandestine, not compared to some of NERV's other goings on.

"And you people, stop slacking and get back to work, the serial bus connections between the plug interface equipment and the EVA nervous system need to be fully checked before we can clear Unit-00 for use!"

"Yes ma'am." The two technicians shouted in unison.

"Wow, Sempai, you're so assertive!" Maya squeaked gleefully.

Ritsuko looked at her grinning, "True . . . And how is that little pet project that the Commander left for the MAGI going."

Maya handed Ritsuko a large folder, "I was actually on my way to give these to you, there the stock projections that the MAGI made on the last three test runs, they're nearly spot on . . . but . . . isn't it a little unfair to use the MAGI like this?"

"What?" Ritsuko asked as she flipped through the results. "They have plenty of unused runtime and companies have computers manage their stocks all the time." _Admittedly none of those companies have three highly sophisticated seventh generation AI operating systems capable of analyzing every variable from past demand and resource prices, to psychological trends in the consumer base. To think all of this came up because Shinji wanted to know whether the MAGI could do some of NERV's accounting work._

"Uhm, yes Sempai." Maya said quietly, still something just felt immoral to her about using a computer like that. Maybe it was her naivete, believing that works of science were only for the benefit of mankind. Images of their soulless eyes filled her mind. No . . . she couldn't afford that kind of attitude anymore. Technology could benefit man, but it was also dangerous in the hands of the selfish, she couldn't run away from that. She watched as Ritsuko continued to read through the report, she was so much more confident, so much more dignified then Maya. The mousy haired technician took a deep breath, for her Sempai's sake she would see this through to the end.

Love could be a very odd thing.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I'm getting a little worried about Shinji, he hasn't been at school for the past couple days." Touji said.

"And he skipped the three before that, didn't he?" Kensuke said glancing up at Touji.

"Hmm, its probably for NERV, don't you think."

"Yeah, probably." Kensuke agreed, secretly cursing Shinji for being a pilot instead of him and for certainly knowing more about NERV's activity. _And his dad's supposed to be the Commander, darn it, if I had a dad like that . . . _Kensuke's fantasies were interrupted by Touji's sudden utterance.

"The class rep . . ."

Kensuke looked up to see that class representative Horaki as well as the two new girls from their class, were standing right inside the adjacent elevator. The first of the new girls was Yumiko Kusanagi, an odd one with short jet black hair and a penchant for reading . . . a lot, she was a frail girl but had managed to draw the attention of at least a few of the class's male population, and more alarmingly a few of the female members as well.

The second girl, Aoi Akari was slightly taller with a mild tan, her black hair came down to her shoulders and seemed to strangely fit her electric blue eyes. She seemed a bit boisterous at first, until one realized she only spoke at all when she was addressed by another person. Despite the illusion of normalcy she emitted the same aura as Ayanami, unsurprisingly most people were too frightened to approach her. Both girl's remained silent as the pig tailed class representative spoke for their party.

"Two of the three stooges." Hikari replied bluntly, before shaking her head, "I mean, Mr. Aida, Mr. Suzuhara, what are you two doing here?"

"We're here to see Shinji, and you?" Touji asked.

"I'm here to see Asuka."

"And we have come to speak with Pilot Ayanami." Yumiko said softly.

All five stopped before Misato's door.

Hikari turned to Kensuke and Touji, the three spoke at once, "Why are you stopping here?" Pausing for a moment, Kensuke pressed the doorbell hesitantly.

"Coming", A pair of voices responded immediately. The sound of the door being unlocked quickly was followed by its opening, none of the group new quite what to think as two heads stuck out. It was a rather off putting scene considering the extremes that each girl represented, made all the more surreal by the identical downcast frown on both of their faces.

"Uhm, why are you . . ." Hikari began.

"It is part of our training." Asuka and Rei replied simultaneously, "To defeat the Angel." They finished.

"Okay . . ." Hikari said dumbly, "Uhm, where would Shinji happen to be?"

Both pointed simultaneously to the group's left where Shinji and Misato were just reaching them, accompanied by a fiery haired man and a bald brute in plain business suits. Shinji wore a look of mild contentment on his face as he held up a bag full of what looked like snack food. "Oh, hello guys." He said hesitantly.

"Where have you been?" Touji asked.

"We've been worried about you." Kensuke chimed in.

"And what has NERV been making Rei and Asuka do?" Hikari spat out having gotten over her brief shock at the odd sight she had ben presented upon her arrival. "Not to mention where have you been? Nobodies been able to reach you even to drop off your homework!"

"I-I apologize." Shinji stammered, bowing quickly, "I'm really sorry Miss Horaki, please just get me the paper's and I'll do my best to make them up."

"Jeez, its just your schoolwork not your freaking income tax returns." The red headed man grumbled, backing off quickly at the glare from the class representative.

"Schoolwork should be done on time, it's important for all the work to be done so he doesn't fall behind." Hikari said sternly.

"Ah, relax Shinji'll get it done." Touji said, slamming one arm down on Shinji's back, "He may not be the smartest, he may not be the most attractive, and he may get worked up over the dumbest thing, but Shinji's the most reliable guy I know."

"Gee, thanks." Shinji said not sure whether to be honored or insulted. "Uhm, why don't you guys come inside and we'll explain everything." Rei and Asuka opened the door all the way revealing the matching exercise costumes they were wearing.

"Oh my." Hikari whispered quietly into her hand, "I mean, that's a rather . . . interesting . . ."

"Do not finish that sentence." Asuka growled quietly, her growling intensified, "Damn it, now thanks to little miss Ice Queen, I can not even use contractions! This is ridiculous!"

"No, what's ridiculous is your performance so far." Misato said ushering the two girl's back into the living room. An elaborate dance pad lay spread out across the back half of the living room, leaving the sizeable crowd very little space to sit down and watch. But watch they did, watch Rei and Asuka try, and fail, yet again.

It was pretty clear that the two were expected to synchronize their actions based on the lights that came up on the screen, but they seemed less than skilled at it. Rei was forever trying to move precisely without any error, while Asuka simply charged ahead, making few mistakes but not winning any awards for grace. As they attempted to simultaneously step forward with their inside feet they succeeded in butting their heads squarely together and sliding to the floor once again.

"I think they're getting worse." Shinji whispered to Misato. When they had started they had at least been able to stay more or less in time with each other. Now though they seemed to be good for nothing but tripping their partner up.

"It's not my fault." Asuka shouted quickly, pointing a finger at Rei who sat rubbing her head tenderly, "How can I be expected to synchronize my movements at the rate this . . . animated turnip moves at!" Her voice had remained mostly level despite the obvious agitation she felt towards Rei.

_But I like turnips. _Rei though bluntly as Misato did her best to calm the German, "So your saying you don't want to do this?" Misato asked.

Asuka snorted, "Its not like you have anyone to replace me with." She said sounding rather full of herself. If there was one thing she was certain in it was her utter superiority over the First and Third Children. The dance machines suddenly let out a short tone alerting the entire room that the dancers were moving in synch with each other. Asuka snapped about eyes wide as Shinji moved carefully in perfect synch with Rei. Neither child was looking at the other, they just moved as if it was natural to be that way.

"Well, what do you know." Misato said, "Maybe we should try having _Shinji_ do it instead, then Rei and him can take care of this Angel.

Asuka paled, she knew what was going to come next if she didn't do something . . . She took the only course open to her.

Shinji put his left hand down in Synch with Rei's, he'd just been curious how the machine worked and it had looked sort of fun when Rei and Asuka had started the day before. He was rewarded by another short tone which strangely seemed to please him immensely. He was about to put his right hand down on the appropriate circle when the headphones were suddenly yanked off. He blinked a few times and looked around startled. "Wha . . ."

"You idiot!" The Class Representative balled her fist dangerously as she looked down on Shinji, "You made her cry!"

"I . . . don't . . ." Shinji tried to make sense of what Hikari was talking about.

"Go find her and apologize you MORON!" She shouted in his face. Shinji suddenly felt the desire to be somewhere else, "Uhm, oh, uh, where's Asuka?" He said looking around confused, whatever the class rep was shouting at him about this was his chance to make his escape. "I- I'll go find her!" Shinji scrambled to the door and was gone in seconds.

Hikari sighed, "Man, Shinji's sweet, but what a dunce."

Rei felt a slight twinge of anger at the Class Rep's comment but said nothing. Her attention was drawn to a slight tapping at her shoulder, Aoi and Yumiko looked at her seriously. "We need to speak to you." Yumiko said softly, Aoi nodded mutely in agreement. Neither waited for Rei's confirmation, simply hooking their arms around her shoulders they hauled her out into the hallway to speak privately. "This is most troubling." Yumiko said.

"What is?" Rei asked.

"The red haired harlequin is going to be _living_ with Shinji-sama." The small girl explained looking Rei in the eyes. "Do you not understand the significance of this?" Seeing a total lack of comprehension in the eyes of the girl that was her genetic template Yumiko began explaining in small words. "It is due to Shinji that we are alive now, we hold him in the highest esteem . . . However we have also heard of the red haired ones violent nature and fear for Shinji-sama's safety." She fidgeted with the skirt of her school uniform. "It is possible that Shinji-sama could be drawn to her, foreigners often are seen as exotic, this is unacceptable." Yumiko leaned in dangerously, "Have you forgotten his promise to you already."

Rei's eyes widened, "He promised . . . he promised to help me find it." She affirmed.

"She may try to take him away from us." Yumiko said slowly, "If that happens his promise may be voided, his promise to us will be lost!"

"To . . . us?" Rei wondered. She didn't need an explanation, the answers came unbidden, memory after memory of her eyes opening for the first time. They were faint, blurred, but there ultimate meaning was undeniable.

The small girl nodded eyes knowing, "You have felt it too have you not, it is how we knew where to find you. We are separate but we are also one, if Shinji's promise is not fulfilled then none of us will ever be whole."

Rei turned to look at the door anxiously, "I will . . . go find Shinji . . . And attempt to sort this out."

Yumiko nodded and leaned forward, "We will support you in any endeavor involving Shinji . . . But it you lose him . . ." Her voice lowered to a growl, "If you lose him, especially to the harlequin, we will _never_ forgive you." Rei was out the door in a time that would have made a late running Misato proud. Soon after Yumiko and Aoi left as well.

"Was it . . . wise to do that?" Aoi asked suddenly, "We are not . . . certain that Shinji is even attracted to the second child, shouldn't we wait and see how things develop instead of worrying her."

Yumiko pulled a book on romance from her satchel, "It is too great a risk to take." She said flatly, "We are already at a disadvantage due to Rei's proximity in proportion to Asuka's. Under normal conditions the Harlequin with have the advantage of distance, five meters as compared to five kilometers. Under shared living conditions the risk is too great for us to remain uninvolved. Ultimately Rei will not be able to gain him unless she can make major inroads soon . . ." Yumiko stopped and turned to stare at her sibling. Aoi was slightly taller due to an infusion of growth hormones during the rapid modifications to her body, though like Yumiko she was virtually identical to Rei genetically. "What is it?"

"Are you really so confident in your research. We have had only two weeks to build on our template, how can you be so certain that your analyses is correct?"

"You make a valid point." Yumiko admitted, "However it is because of our relatively blank minds that we can adapt so quickly, we have no old falsehoods to unlearn." Yumiko like the other clones had begun to branch rapidly from the original personality template. Though she had a quiet focus on par with Rei's, she was also fanatically devoted to literature of any kind. She had become the defacto leader of the small group of girls born from the room of Gauf, keeping them tightly nit in a world that was, though wonderful, not entirely friendly.

"But are you certain that what you are learning now are not those very falsehoods?" Aoi pointed out.

Yumiko paused to consider her siblings words, "I must accept for now that I am right." _I have to be, for all of our sakes._

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji paused and looked over his shoulder, Reno look at him and then grinned. "Why are you fallowing me?" Shinji asked.

"Come on, don't think we'd leave you alone boss, did ya?" The Turk asked playfully as he started walking once more, his hands were stuffed in the pockets of his rumpled business suit and his head was slouched forward slightly as he considered the intersection. "She probably hasn't gone far." He said.

"Yeah, probably." Shinji admitted, "Uhm, we could try the convenience stores, the closest one is about two blocks from here." The pair moved quickly heading in the direction Shinji gestured. Shinji starred at his bodyguard again. The young man kept up with no trouble, not even breaking a sweat despite being in heavier clothing then Shinji.

"Something bothering you Boss?" Reno asked keeping his eyes on the street ahead of them.

"I was . . . just wondering, how you became a Turk?"

Reno's features were pulled into a slight grin, "Would you believe it was to impress a girl?" He asked.

"Really?" Shinji said startled.

"Something like that, honestly, that was six years ago, and I really don't want to think about that time. God you don't know how much I don't want to think about that time." Those words were spoken with a tone of regret foreign to the normally light hearted Turk's voice.

Shinji decided it was best not to dig any deeper. The convenience store was one of a chain that spanned all across Japan, the familiar green and orange marking catching the eye the moment they turned onto the street.

They found her in the back, near the coolers, "Don't you Japanese have any descent drinks?" She said in disgust, she didn't look at him instead choosing to pin her attention to the row of brightly colored bottles.

"Asuka, we need to . . ."

"Yeah I know, me and your little Wonder Girl have to pull off this miracle you and Misato are hoping for, Herr Furer." Shinji didn't know what that last thing had meant but he nodded anyway.

"Its . . . Its important to all of us that you do the best you can. I mean . . . I don't think I could do it . . ." Shinji stopped when he saw her tense and start to shake. "Asuka?"

Before he could say anything she turned hurling a coke can at him, "THAT'S JUST IT, YOU GODDAMN COULD!" She snarled, eyes red with frustration. "What in the hell is wrong with you, you moron! Don't you get it, you could do this, you and your little wind up girlfriend could do it no problem! And you will too, won't you, you'll be the little miracle child everyone expects you to be . .." Asuka was shaking as she spoke, her eyes were hidden beneath her matted hair as she continued to speak. Her face had twisted into a tight little smile, "After all, you've killed three Angels with almost no help, then you went and inherited an entire NERV branch. No matter what the hell I do now, you're name is the one that's going to go down in the history books."

"Asuka . . . I." Shinji looked at her suddenly, "Is that why you pilot, so you'll be famous?"

"I have to be the best." She said flatly, "I _was_ the best until you suddenly showed up out of nowhere and started racking up victories on beginners luck."

"Asuka . . ."

She smirked, "Well, if that's all Herr Ferer." She returned to starring at the drinks in the cooler. Reno was busy at the counter calming the manager over the whole outburst and explaining the situation as best he could.

"Asuka, I didn't want this, I didn't want to pilot EVA, and I sure as hell didn't want to be the lord of all that I survey, but I guess I am. And what I need right now is help, because I can't do this alone, I need . . . I need _your _help because you know what the truth is?" Asuka didn't seem to hear him. "The truth is, I'm scarred as hell. God, I don't want to die, and I don't want to see anyone else die either. The only reason I survived all of those fights is because others were their to suffer in my place, I've always lucked out and gotten the easy job . . ." Asuka still did not respond. "Asuka, you act like you have it so damn _hard_, you don't think other's have been through that hell? I know I have, and so has Rei. The difference is that I just gave up, and Rei turned a deaf ear to her suffering. Only you Asuka, out of the three of us, only _you_ actually did something about it. I thought I was a failure, but _you _in that same situation decided that you would better yourself. I guess . . . That makes me look up to you." He sighed when he saw that even that gamble had no affect. He turned to leave and paused as he heard a soft snicker.

"So, is this the almighty King saying he's sorry or something?"

Shinji smiled a little, "Even a King needs knights, right?"

She stood slowly and looked at him. She looked him over and then smiled slightly, she saluted sharply, "Knight Errant Soryu at your service my liege." She said before suddenly breaking out in laughter.

Shinji let out a tight sigh not sure whether to feel relieved that he had brought Asuka back around, or worried that she seemed to have some sort of multiple personality disorder. Deciding to worry about that after the Angel was defeated, he brushed past Asuka drawing her attention as he opened the cooler and rummaged through it. He held up a small strawberry milk bottle, he pointed at the label. "You should try this brand."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei had little luck finding Shinji and Asuka, no surprise considering she didn't even know where to begin looking. There were some disadvantages to having lived such a sheltered existence. She stopped to take a breath studying her surrounding once more as she considered, Reno had slipped out after Shinji almost as soon as he'd left, which meant they may have split up to check multiple locations. Or, they may have stuck together assuming they knew where the Second Child would most likely be . . . Rei really wasn't cut out for deducing other's plans.

"Hey, Ayanami?"

Rei cocked her head to the side catching sight of Shinji carrying a small grocery sack, Asuka and Reno were right behind him. Shinji rummaged through the sack and pulled out a small bottle, "Here."

Rei took it curiously, reading the label she carefully opened the bottle and took a sip. Shinji watched her expectantly, "It is good." She said softly taking another sip.

They continued back to the apartment in silence before Shinji finally spoke once more, "Listen, you two don't get along well. But if you can't do this training then we're going to be beaten by this Angel. So both you . . ." Shinji struggled to find the right words. "Both of you have to dance like you want to _want_ to win." He said with all the forcefulness and spirit he could muster.

Asuka and Reno broke into a sudden fit of snickering, not what Shinji had expected. Asuka's snickers turned to a evil cackle as she fought to take in enough air. "T-thats just . . . just to rich . . . Dance like you want to win . . ." She blurted out in laughter again. Reno's laughter redoubled along with that of the German's. Rei simply cocked her head slightly torn between curiosity at why Shinji's words were so funny and anger that these two would laugh at them regardless of their comedic value.

"Well . . . I guess you don't have to take it that seriously, after all the UN _is _backing us up. So its not like it'll be that bad if you guys lose . . ." The laughing stopped, both Rei and Asuka were looking at him beset with determination. "What's the . . ."

"Do not say that. It is never okay to lose!" Both girls said as one, it was something that they both whole heartedly believed even if their reasoning for it was different.

They looked at each other with mild surprise. "Well well." Asuka smirked, "For once I have to agree with you First, now lets prove the Furer here what we can do." Rei had no chance to reply as she was dragged along behind the red head by the wrist.

"Pilot Soryu . . ." Rei began.

"Relax First we're heading right back to Misato's so we can train to kick that Angel's ass."

"The Major's residence is in the other direction." Rei stated flatly pointing back the way they had come. "Ger, Right! I just got turned around is all." Asuka dashed off dragging Rei along behind her now traveling in the appropriate direction. Not far from them small girl had been watching the scene from a footbridge.

"She really is a harlequin." Yumiko muttered before turning to leave, her sisters were waiting for the latest news.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Five straight days of training were broken only by a few brief synch sessions between Rei and Unit-01. It had been decided that her synch score was high enough to use the machine in Shinji's stead, especially considering all of the modifications being made to Unit-00, Doctor Akagi seemed to have gotten in touch with her inner mad scientist on that one.

The training had not been easy, in fact, it had been grueling, to the point that Rei and Asuka had come to rapidly despise the dance pad and. But that was all over now, they'd successfully gone through the synch training over one hundred times with fewer than fifteen mistakes. That was good enough for Misato and the equipment had been packed up and moved out that afternoon.

Rei looked at herself in the mirror, Fuyutsuki had been very firm with her when it came to dressing around the house, but he had at least compensated on allowing her to wear something less constricting then her school clothes. Black sleeveless shirt and dark blue shorts, it kept everything covered but left her feeling more comfortable then in anything else she owned. There was a knocking at the bathroom door.

"Other people have to use that bathroom two you know." Asuka complained from the other side, knocking again with considerably more force.

Rei sighed to herself, the Second truly seemed to be testing her patience. A patience that amazingly _did_ have limits. It was apparent that Asuka did not like her, or at least did not prefer her company from the beginning. _Perhaps I should have accepted her offer of friendship, I may have offended her by refusing. _It wasn't that Rei particularly gave a damn whether or not she had offended the Second Child, she was just so obnoxious that any way to smooth relations with her would have been welcome.

Rei stepped to the side as Asuka barged through and shoed her out. The hiss of the tub faucet came a moment later. Rei could at least sympathize with the Second's desire for a hot bath, it was one of the little pleasures she had only discovered upon moving in with the Sub-commander, and had been greatly pleased with it.

"Oh, your done then Rei?" Shinji asked coming out of the kitchen with a spatula in hand.

She gave him a look that told him his question had been a waste of breath. And he looked away, "Sorry." He mumbled.

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"Its nothing, you should hurry up and eat, and probably tell Asuka as well." Shinji rushed back into the kitchen he came out with a plate of warm somen noodles, "You have to eat them quick or they lose their flavor and texture." He explained pressing the plat into Rei's hands and hurrying down the hallway to the bathroom.

Rei took an experimental bite of the meal, deciding it was good she went to sit at the table and dig in more earnestly.

"Asuka, finish quick or you'll be stuck with left overs." Shinji said tapping on the door.

He heard Asuka snort loudly from the other side before turning on the water. Shinji sighed that girl was going to kill him one day. Even after a week in the same house she was brash, arrogant, and yet somehow he couldn't get her off his mind. She had a certain energy that he couldn't deny he found alluring. Not that she would ever notice him.

He sat down at the table and started eating. He felt a little sorry that Misato was stuck with the night shift at NERV but she did have a lot of paperwork to catch up on so he supposed she was probably making the best of it. When Asuka finally emerged from the bathroom Shinji was just cleaning off his plate. Rei had already taken care of her own washing it and putting it in the sink before padding off down the hallway.

Shinji handed her the plat he had left for her, watching as she scowled at him. "It tastes like wet cardboard."

"I told you to hurry, noodles don't keep their flavor that long." Shinji defended, the German grunted irritably before take another bite.

"You better make it up to me." She said on her next bite.

"I'll be sure to make something you like for your victory dinner tomorrow." Shinji said, he'd found that the quickest way to the redheads heart was through feeding her stomach and stroking her ego. Doing both was guaranteed to keep her in a good mood. And an Asuka in a good mood was an Asuka that wasn't subjugating him as he slave. He was still trying to figure our how he had ended up unpacking all of her stuff. He was relatively certain it had involved jenkin. _I can't keep playing that game._ Shinji decided looking back on his terrible track record. Misato had to have something up her sleeve.

"Yo, earth to Shinji." Asuka waved her hand in front of the blanked out Commander. Shinji shook his head and looked at her hard.

"Oh, I'm sorry, just thinking about . . ."

"About what?" Asuka said. Leaning forward, "It's something perverted isn't it." She growled before letting out a snort of disgust. "Whatever, Misato's isn't going to be getting in until after the battle tomorrow so was have the entire house to our self. So my Furer we would do best getting some sleep." Asuka scarfed down the rest of her meal with a grimace and stocked to her room. She slid the door open and then shut again, a moment later it opened again, "And don't you dare come in here." She slammed the door shut again.

"Okay." Shinji said dumbly. _There has got to be something wrong with that girl. I'm not sure if she's being playful or murderous half the time._ He would have to ask Ritsuko or Fuyutsuki about that. Maybe she had some mental condition, he could check her full records and probably get an answer.

With the kitchen in satisfactory order for the next day Shinji went straight for his room, it was too late to do anything but sleep. Not after all the stuff Rei and Asuka had put him through in the last few days. He wondered vaguely as he changed and lay down if they were getting along well.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Asuka grimaced as she looked at her roommate, thank god this was temporary. She didn't know how much longer she could stand the First Child. It wasn't like she was doing anything overly obnoxious. It was just that . . ."

"God, how much more are you going to mess with that stupid teddy bear."

Rei fixed her with a frosty stare. "GenGen isn't stupid, Ikari bought him for me."

Asuka rolled her eyes, "Because of course our great and powerful Furer buys it, it must be one of the greatest things the world has ever produced. That idiot wouldn't know style if it bit him in the face." Asuka blinked as she heard something. Looking at Rei her eyes narrowed, "Are you, growling at me?"

The First Child did not respond verbally instead tightening her grip on GenGen and pulling the covers of her futon over herself.

Asuka shook her head, the twerp wasn't worth so much trouble especially when dealing with Shinji. Still, she needed to understand where she stood. "You really like Shinji, huh?" She said as she paced over to turn of the lights.

"The Commander, is very agreeable, I enjoy his company very much." Rei responded wondering what angle the German was attempting to use on her. She had already weathered several mental attacks in the past few days aimed at everything from her bazar hair and eye color to her frigid attitude.

"I guess you would." Asuka said laying down on her futon. "But you know, Girls like you don't get guys like him."

Rei's heart skipped a beat. "What . . . Do you mean?"

"Well. The way I here it Shinji's got a fair amount of cash stashed away in his father's accounts. Assuming he has half of what little brains I think he has he'll know he can live pretty luxuriously off the interest that cash with accrue for the rest of his life. To top it off he isn't exactly terrible looking either. Trust me, plenty of women with better bodies and personalities then yours will be lining up to spend their lives with him. He'll be able to take his pick. What makes you think he'd choose a poorly endowed peasant girl like you when he can have a Victoria Secret model, or three."

Rei didn't respond, she starred up at the ceiling instead as she considered these words. She knew it was true, Rei was not particularly attractive. In fact, save for her unique pigmentation she was thoroughly average in every conceivable way, certainly not ugly but no someone who would ever be called beautiful. Not that she had minded this until now. Not until now, now it meant a great deal. Shinji would be taken by someone else, or worse yet, take someone else for his affections and leave his promise to her unkept. She wouldn't find her missing piece.

Asuka was unaware of the turmoil she had spawned with her hateful little speech, already happily asleep, awaiting the next day and her chance to finally prove herself.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"My god, where does all this paperwork come from?" Misato sagged back in her seat.

"We're lucky you know." Ritsuko said sipping from a coffee mug.

Misato snorted, "And how the hell is that."

"We have the MAGI to do most of the scutt work, imagine how bad it would be without them turning away endlessly on our accounting files and stock portfolio."

"Portfolio?" Misato asked.

"Oh, never mind that." Ritsuko said quickly.

Misato groaned, "Well whatever, if I don't get all of this paperwork done my pay will get cut at the end of the month." She began to cry, "I'll have to subsist on instant ramen and none brand name bear!"

Ritsuko's eye twitched, "You need help with that Misato, seriously get in touch with alcoholics anonymous or something."

"Oh and you're one to talk, you go out barhopping with me too you know."

"Yes but I'm not a sloppy drunk." She sniped back.

Misato glared, "Fine, whatever, honestly thought how do you get all of this paperwork done. I mean seriously there's enough to require your own secretary."

Ritsuko shrugged, "I get Maya to do it."

Misato piqued, "How do you do that?"

Ritsuko looked at her oddly, "Didn't you know? Each member of the bridge staff is supposed to act as an adjutant to their appropriate Division leader. Maya is my direct subordinate so she helps me with the Project E administration work. Makoto is Fuyutsuki's direct subordinate in general administration and I know he takes care of organizing the reports sent up to the Commander's office. I think its Hyuga's job to assist you since he's the second in command of the Tactical Division."

Misato's jaw dropped, "Why in the hell didn't I know that?"

Ritsuko smiled evilly, "It was mentioned in the orientation you slept through."

"AND YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO TELL ME?" The Operations Director shouted in her oldest, soon to be most recently deceased, friend's face.

"Oh I just thought you liked to take a hands on approach." Ritsuko looked at her watch getting up she waved of her back, "Well I have to be going Misato. Unit-00 won't finish system diagnostics on itself you know."

Misato watched her go before slumping in her seat. "Why in God's name didn't anybody ever tell me this." She whined.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

A battle was coming the next day, it was possible that people would die. Likely that homes would be destroyed. Yet Tokyo-3 slept peacefully. In every case but one. The door to Asuka's room creaked open, a shadow slipped inside and came to stand between both sleeping girls.

Shinji smiled slightly as he sat down to simply watch them. The first time it had been entirely accidental. The first night he had come stumbling in after a late night trip to the bathroom. The second time he had been curious, the Asuka who was violent while awake seemed so peaceful in sleep. And Rei likewise lost her tense control revealing just how innocent she really was.

It brought a strange sense of peace to him, to see them like this. It made him feel like he really could protect them. With Unit-01, and with NERV. He just, didn't want to see any more pain. If he could stop everyone's suffering then maybe, maybe then, he could finally deserve to be happy.

He frowned as he saw a small tear beading in Asuka's eye. "Mmmm . . ." She twisted softly in her sleep, face contorting as she was haunted by something. A nightmare?

Shinji leaned forward and tried to wipe the tear from her eye, she shifted again knocking his supporting hand out and causing him to slip onto the futon next to her. She turned again eyes squeezed tight. Shinji froze as she leaned forward towards the warmth she had felt even in her nightmare. "Mmmm . . ."

He stiffened, terrified that she would wake up and kill . . . Her lips brushed against his . . . Him . . . He broke out in a cold sweat. "Mmmm momma." She whimpered her arms fell around him grabbing him tight. "Don't leave me momma, I'm a good girl." Her tears started to flow more freely. "I'm a good girl, aren't I momma?"

Shinji carefully dislodged himself from her embrace breathing heavily.

"Momma?" She whimpered again.

_She . . . Must have it rough too. Your still just a child too_. Shinji thought angrily, still . . . He place a hand on her forehead. "That's right . . ." He said hesitantly, recalling something that Asuka might have found comforting. He'd heard her use the word a couple times and knew what it meant. "That's right . . . Liebchen . . . You're a good girl." He doubted Asuka could actually feel any of this but comforting her settled _his_ nerves. Sighing softly he got up and left the room afraid of what might happen if he stuck around any longer.

He didn't notice the tears beginning to flow down Rei's face as she dreamt her first dream. Of being left all alone, in the dark and the cold.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"All system checks complete Unit-01 and 02 ready for launch." Aoba reported.

Hyugga looked up from his console. "Synchronization track is ready to play."

"MAGI have preloaded commands to the defensive grid. All launcher sights prepared to fire." Maya chimed in.

"Good work everyone." Shinji said looked out from the top tier of Central Dogma. He wore the black jacket Hyuga had suggested for him back during the whole Jet Alone incident, he had to admit it was a really nice jacket. And Misato didn't nag him as much now that he had gained a little bit more style with his clothing. "Rei, Asuka, are you two ready?" He asked over the intercom.

"Leave it to us herr Furer." Asuka said confidently.

"We will complete the mission with utmost diligence." Rei agreed.

"The Angel is approaching the first line." Aoba said.

Shinji nodded and looked down to Misato's station in the second tier, "Misato, would you do the honors?"

"Gladly Sir." Misato turned to face the rest of the bridge crew. "Evangelion Units 01 and 02, launch!"

The machines rocketed to the surface on NERV electromagnetic catapults their hard point locks already detached. They reached the surface in under ten seconds and continued straight up to get a clear view of the angel as Beethoven's 8th symphony began to play.

"This was a really good choice of music." Shinji commented as he watched the battle. The first act on the part of Unit 01 and 02 was to split the recombined Angel and divide its power between its two halves. A fairly solid tactical decision considering that the EVA's would hopefully have the upper hand in synchronization.

Misato frowned, "You know it actually serves a purpose in this battle, right?"

"Oh I know that." Shinji smiled, "I just think it would be neat if we played music in the background for all of our operations. It would get everyone in the mood, its just so exhilarating!"

Missile sites all over the city opened fire, hammering the Angels in concert with UN deployed rocket artillery. This unexpected attack helped to throw of the Angels's own synchronized movement shifting that advantage further to NERV.

Misato looked at Shinji in disbelief, she would certainly have to have Ritsuko looked at him. Shinji did seem to be suffering from a mild bout of insanity. Or maybe all the power was going to his head.

The music reached its climax as the Angels were staggered, Unit 01 and 02 initiated their final attack, a running leap that ended in a synchronized attack on both cores. The explosion that ensued was proof enough that the plan had succeeded. A light round of cheering broke out amongst the bridge staff at another successful battle.

Fuyutsuki coughed into his hand to hide his feeling of humiliation at the battle's conclusion, "Well, it could have ended worse." He nodded to the main monitor where Unit-02 lay fallen over Unit-01. At some point one of them must have botched the landing, which exactly was never determined but the whole embarrassing incident did start quite the running bet.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Later that same evening Shinji could be found walked all around NERV. If someone had observed him they would have been quite curious. He stopped in many of the offices saying hello to staff and asking them how there day was. Listening to jokes told by the technical crews in warehouses and even going to get coffee for the Central Dogma night shift. It all would have seemed very strange, alien in fact, if the Commander had been anyone but Shinji.

He just enjoyed seeing how people were doing, knowing what made them happy and what made them sad. Knowing who's daughter was on the honor roll and who's had just gotten a check up. He'd been invited to have dinner with the families of several of the NERV staff. It was an open secret now that Shinji was the owner and proprietor of NERV but for the most part it was being kept quiet. NERV was trying to avoid the splash that having a child Commander would cause in the media.

That didn't bother Shinji in the least. In fact, he proffered it that way. It meant his successes would get equally as little publicity. And therefore adults would continue to underestimate him. An advantage that was going to be very important in continued negotiations with companies such as JHI and Zantiu-Braun the two lead contractors of the Tokyo-3 intercept grid.

He wasn't sure how his path lead him to his last stop but he supposed if he was talking to the rest of NERV's personnel he should at least say hello to three of its hardest working staff.

The EVA cages were totally devoid of crewmen evening, neither EVA had suffered significant damage and what warping had been done to the armor by the more extreme maneuvers had been scheduled for repair the next day. Shinji had the entire cage to himself as he walked out onto the central cat walk, betting a clear view of all three titanic war machines.

"I don't know . . . If my Father . . . If Gendo ever came down here before." He said. "I'm not even certain if you can hear me. I guess this is a little disgraceful. I mean I don't even know the names of two of you." He tilted his head to look up at the dormant Unit-01. "But I do know that you're here mother. So I beg of you, if you can hear me, please listen to my request."

Shinji sat down in the middle of the catwalk, letting his legs dangle out over the coolant covering the EVA's to their shoulders. "Protect them. Protect them for me, protect them as I cannot, as much as I wish I could. Not just Rei and Asuka. Protect all of them, everyone at NERV and everyone in this city. Everyone on this planet. Please protect them because if we lose, all of them will die too. Die because of a fight that they had nothing to do with. So I beg you, _protect them._"

Shinji starred up at the huge being, dealers of death made as a sort of final joke against the Angels. If they had heard him they didn't respond.

"Seems like a rather odd place to come for a brake." A self confident voice announced. Kaji Ryoji came walking out onto the catwalk hands in his pockets.

"You know . . . Its awfully rude to walk in unannounced." Shinji mumbled, standing to his full height of, well, not a lot.

The scruffy man grinned, "So I heard you've been taken off the pilots roster. Are you trying to duck out of the fighting?"

Shinji looked down, "Of course not. Misato and Fuyutsuki are insisting that I can't pilot if I'm supposed to Command NERV. Authority means I have to give some things up."

"Does it bother you?" Kaji asked.

Shinji looked at him, trying to decide if he was being devious. But, he needed somebody to talk to about this and Misato would just refuse to hear it if he talked about it. "Yeah, it does. I thought if I piloted I would, I don't know. Be worthy or something. The first time I did it I was just doing it out of pressure."

"To save Rei?" Kaji asked.

Shinji looked at him from the corner of his eye. He snorted. "No, I wish it was something that noble. The truth is I was more worried that everyone would hate me for letting her die. If it had just been her and me there, I think I would have run away and left her to her death." He chuckled softly, "How pathetic is that?"

"Do you think that way anymore?" Kaji asked.

"I think . . . I do." Shinji said, shame welled up within him, did he really do all of this just so people would be proud of him? Just so they would praise him? So they would like him?

"Trust me Shinji." Kaji said quietly. "You don't want to go down that path. I once told a woman I cared about very deeply that I didn't think I was capable of true love."

"That sounds pretty morbid coming from someone who seems like such a ladies man."

Kaji chuckled, "You know what the real kicker is. The fact that I could say something like that should have proved I loved her. If you can tell someone that you're not sure that you can love, then you're only telling them that out of concern for their happiness. And isn't that love? It really is one of the most perverse and selfish of emotions."

"An interesting way to put it." Shinji let his eye stare off into the distance, wondering just how far the GeoFront really extended. "Are you saying that love is like greed?"

"Sort of." Kaji agreed. "For example, you might sacrifice yourself for someone and love them selfishly since you're choosing to die instead of having to suffer the loss, never thinking about how they may feel about you dieing."

Those words only fueled Shinji's depressed mood, the reasoning was cold to say the least and sapped a lot of the beauty out of romance.

"Or." Kaji continued, "You could love selflessly and sacrifice yourself because you know they will live on and be happy."

Shinji mulled over the comment and then began to speak. "When I was younger I used to read fairy tales. My favorite one was about a female songbird who took human form."

Kaji looked at Shinji curiously. "Yeah, I think I know the one your talking about. The Songbird took the form of a beautiful maiden who drew the eye of the King. He fell in love with her and when she shed her human form he caged her so that she would never leave him."

"And do you know how the story ends?" Shinji asked.

"The Songbird grew sick from its captivity and loneliness, nothing the king did seemed to heal its broken heart and one day, in the coldest part of winter, he found the bird dead in its cage."

Shinji nodded, "But the story has two different endings."

"Yes I've heard that. The most common is that the King committed suicide so that he could find his beloved songbird in the afterlife."

"That's one." Shinji agreed. "The other one though I think holds to the stories intent much better. When spring finally came the King ordered all of the birds caged in the kingdom released so that they might find happiness. The King then left his Kingdom to wonder the surrounding country as a simple beggar and in his humility lived a rich and full life before dying at the age of one hundred on the same day as his songbird."

"I have to admit it's a rather interesting story. So, does this mean that you trust me?"

"That depends." Shinji said beginning to walk away. "Are you only after the truth?"

Kaji's face grew serious, "The truth is the only thing that I want from you Shinji."

Shinji nodded, "Then let me ask you this, just so I know how much of the truth you already posses. What is EVA?"

Kaji snorted, "That's simple isn't it? A cage for the human heart."

Shinji's lips quirked coldly. "Well said."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Aren't you going to eat it?" Fuyutsuki asked quietly.

Rei pushed her rice around starring at if as if expecting it to hold some deep revelation. She seemed to have not even heard him speak.

The aging professor's concern had been growing ever since he had picked her up from Misato's apartment. She had seemed even more distant then usual. She had behaved differently after returning home as well. Sitting on the living rooms couch with one of Fuyutsuki's history books and simply reading. He'd find her sitting there hours later simply memorizing facts. It had taken a while to figure out that it was what Rei did when she was upset.

What was bothering her however remained a mystery. She'd barely spoken since the Angel's attack and seemed somehow, anxious.

"Sir?"

Fuyutsuki piqued up hoping to here what was troubling her.

"Yes Rei."

"I have a question."

"What could be bothering you Rei?" Fuyutsuki asked, he felt some relief at being asked for help. Helping with a question was something he could do, blindly guessing at an answer had always bothered him. He kept an open mind about whatever Rei may ask. However, he had to admit his mind wasn't quite open enough for the question Rei asked.

"What can you tell me about romance?"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yes I've been late on updating. Yes this chapter probably isn't very good. YES THERE ARE PLOTHOLES AND REAL WORLD INCONSISTENCIES A MILE WIDE. (Not that those _ever_ appear in NGE fiction or the series itself). But if you're reading on its not for fine literature its because you want to read something that you find vaguely amusing and or entertaining rather then being ultra cerebral. However if you are looking for some quality thought invoking fiction for when you actually want to read a real authors works I would suggest Peter F. Hamilton's "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained" Both of which are excellent works of fiction on par with Dan Simons Hyperion Cantos and Frank Herbert's Dune.

Now FLAME IT, FLAME IT WITH A STICK! -Laughs maniacally as he is crushed by a Dolem-

Okay now on to me ranting about a few things.

-Rei does posses a sort of group mind with her siblings. Kind of like a biological version of the Tachikoma's in GitS. So even though they posses a vague grouping of common memories they still branch out and diversify.

-The point of the last part between Shinji and Kaji is supposed to show Shinji resembling Gendo at the end. The conversation actually reflects my own opinions on the complexity of love and how it is most often selfish. True love can only come from humility and willingness to accept another's flaws.

I think that's it. Please comment any advice would be nice.


End file.
